 | Liberty Asserted |  |
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ACT V.
SCENE I.
Ulamar, Frontenac, Miramont.Front.
Come, be not guilty of thy own Destruction!
Believe it, I would gladly be thy Friend;
Besides that, I respect thy wondrous Virtue;
There's something so engaging in thy Person,
That I'm inclin'd with tenderness to Love thee;
But think th' Irrevocable moments fly;
The time approaches when thou must resolve.
Ul.
What to Betray my Trust? To be a Villain!
Front.
Mistake me not fond Youth!
Assist us to subdue these Warlike Nations;
And under us thou shalt Command them all.
Ula.
What right have I to rule these Warlike Nations?
Front.
The Justest in the World, the right of Nature:
Thou singly hast more Virtue than them all;
And therefore art by Nature form'd to rule them.
Ul.
With bare Desert a generous mind is satisfy'd;
If I have Virtue give me leave to keep it?
Complying with thy offer would destroy it,
And I should then have more and blacker Crimes
Than all the Warlike Iroquois together;
But thou mistak'st thy Man, I have a Soul
That scorns a Tyrant, and a Slave alike;
And thou would'st have me both:
But since thy offer kindly is design'd;
Ingratitude I doubly will return it.
Front.
Return it, say'st thou? How?
Ul.
Set me but free, and I'll in kind return it.
Front.
In kind?
Ul.
Yes, Rouze thy self, and shake off this vile Yoak,
Under the which thou bow'st thy Neck and groan'st:
I'll make thee King of all Canadian France,
And the brave English, and the Warlike Iroquois
Shall both support thy Claim.
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I'll hear no more; say, wilt thou Live or Die.
Mir.
Nay, hear him out; 'tis barbarous to refuse it:
Methinks that I could hear him talk for ever.
Front.
Yet be advis'd and Live.
Ul.
Not on thy terms, I'm not of Life so fond;
Weigh both our offers, and judge which is Juster;
Tyrant and Slave at once thoud'st have me turn,
And weaken and debase my freeborn mind;
That's Independant now of all but Heav'n;
And a Superiour in a Man disdains;
The greatest, best of Men are but my equals;
The guilty like thy Master my Inferiours.
Front.
Thou hast a noble Soul by Heav'n.
Mir.
A Godlike one.
Ul.
Oh how unlike is what I ask of thee?
I would Establish thee a Lawful King,
And o'er a happy People shalt thou Reign,
Would break thy ignoble Bonds, and give thee means
T' assert thy Liberty, t'assert thy Virtue;
For lurking in thy breast I see the Seeds
Of ev'ry noble Virtue; but by custom
And vain opinion choak'd, and blind obedience
To the unjust ambition of thy Master,
As thou art Man, thou art Generous and Brave,
True Maganimity adorns thy mind,
And thou art as Dearly awful to my Soul
As if thou wert my Father.
But as thou art French, thou art Base, Perfidious, Perjur'd,
And Sacrificest to thy Tyrants will
Thy very Honour, and thy very Virtue.
Mir.
Mind that my Lord.
Ul.
Thou would'st have me Betray my Trust, my Country,
The Solemn'st and most Sacred of all Trusts.
I would have thee deliver those thou Rul'st,
And free them from the Bonds that wring their Hearts,
And from the Cruel Scourge that makes them Roar:
Should I comply with thee, and should undo
These Generous Nations, who are happy now
In Innocence and Freedom; but would then
Be plung'd in Vice and endless Misery;
How when I afterwards met woful sights,
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How would my Heart, within my bosom Die
To think that I had done this:
But thou who hitherto mistaken man,
Hast prostituted to thy Monarchs Pride
The noblest Talents of thy mind and Person,
Thy Wisdom, and thy Courage hast employ'd
To cast all other Nations into Chains,
And Clinch, and Rivet those that bind thy own,
Who hast been Industrous to entail Destruction
Upon the Race of Men, to all Posterity,
Ev'n thy Posterity, thy wretched Children,
If thou hast Children—
Front.
What Cruel griefs, has that Remembrance Rouz'd?
Ul.
How will thy Soul rejoyce when thou shalt come.
To turn those Talents to their Noblest use,
To bring the Nations round to Happy freedom,
And make Attonement to our Indian World,
For all the Woes thy Curst Ambition caus'd!
What Inexpressive Joy will seize thy Breast,
When thou shalt every where meet happy objects,
And think to thee, that Happiness they owe!
To hear the Shouts, the General Acclamations,
Th' unnumber'd Blessings pour'd upon thy Head:
O would'st thy Rouze thy self, and break thy Chain
How would thy Virtue, and thy Glory Shine!
And to what Height thy Happiness would Soar!
Then Impious War should here for ever cease
Which never came among these Happy Groves,
'Till thy false Race, first Landed on our Shoar.
For 'tis for Liberty we War, not Empire;
While at the Blood we spill we hourly sigh,
And Curse the Falshood of detested Slaves,
That rudely force us to Destroy our kind.
How shameful 'tis, that Men whom Heav'n has form'd
Of this vast Universe; the fellow Citizens
Should thus wage Civil and unnatural War:
All Creatures that have Life, but Men agree;
The fiercest and most Savage of the Beasts,
That makes the Forest tremble at his Roar,
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And with him like a Brother Lives in Peace.
Ev'n Fiends themselves with Fiends are ne'er at Variance;
But Barbarous Man, makes Impious War on Man,
And Leagues with Fiends against his fellow Creatures.
Mir.
O Godlike Youth! assist me all ye Pow'rs
[apart.
Who Love mankind, and who delight in Mercy,
Assist my Just design.
Ul.
But if the Justice, of the Noble cause
The freedom of our Indian World won't move thee,
If giving lasting Happiness and Peace
To all the Race of men, won't Rouze thy Blood,
If thy own Fame and Greatness won't prevail,
And if a Crown acquir'd so Brave a way,
Have no Temptations for thy Grovling mind,
Hast thou a Son t' Inherit Bliss or Woe,
For some will for their Children more perform,
Than for themselves; and all the World besides.
Mir.
A happy thought, ay, urge that motive Home.
Ul.
Nay, answer me!
Front.
Alas! thou hurt'st me, Probe that Wound no more
Ul.
Nay, if thou hast, consider while 'tis time,
On this Important now Depends his Fate,
And by thy Present choice he grows a King,
Becomes a happy and a Glorious King,
Or Lives and Dies a miserable Slave;
Come, I can plainly see thou hast a Son.
Mir.
Yes, yes, Brave Youth, we have Children, nay and VVive's,
But shamefully have been afraid to own them,
For fear our mighty Monarch should grow Angry,
And that Vile fear has lost them; if they Live,
They languish in a rude Captivity;
And to retrive them, and to keep them ours,
VVe have no hope, but by thy Generous offer.
Come rouze my Lord, how long shall we have Patience:
Have Patience! have Stupidity I would say!
For Patience is a Virtue, this a Vileness,
A very want of Spirits in our Blood:
Come, how much longer shall we crouch and Fawn,
Yes Fawn like Dogs, the more, the more we're scourg'd:
But Dogs when Beaten only Fawn on Men
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No Dog will fawn upon a Dog who tears him:
Yes, 'tis a sign we have Sacrific'd our Virtue,
Nay, and our very Reason with our Virtue,
VVhen we can thus resolve to offer up
Our Children to the Rage of Lawless Sway.
VVhat is he? That he proudly thus commands us,
Not only to commit the basest Crimes,
To grow the scourge of God, and be the plagues
Of Humane Race, while the French name is grown
A Horrour to each Corner of the Earth;
But that like Devils we our selves should feel
Doubly the Torments we inflict on others;
Should on our Children endless Woes entail,
And grow the Curse ev'n of our own Posterity.
For what? That he o'er Europe may Insult:
Yes, by the Woes of us and our Insult.
What is't to us who Reigns, if we are Wretched?
And can we well be more? Is this our comfort,
That with our selves we make mankind too wretched?
A Comfort fit for Devils, not for Men.
Ul.
Ay, now thou art my Friend indeed.
Mir.
Pray where's his Pow'r that aws us into this?
What force has he, but what we fondly give him?
For what he wrongly calls his Pow'r is ours;
And shall we use our Pow'r against our selves:
VVould any but a Wretch depriv'd of Reason,
Employ his Limbs to Wound himself and Children,
Because another has the monstrous Cruelty
To tell him 'tis his pleasure.
Front.
I've heard too much.
Scene 2.
Ulamar, Frontenac, Miramont, Souldier.Soul.
My Lord, to Arms, to Arms!
Front.
What say'st thou?
Soul.
As we advanc'd towards yonder Southern Gate,
Upon the Mountain fronting it, we spy'd
A Light ascending to the Vault of Heav'n,
Which strait expanding in a general Blaze,
O'erflow'd the Mountain with a Floud of Flame
And then descending with Impetuous course
Down to the Vale the Fiery Torrent rowl'd,
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'Tis thought the Routed Angians who escap'd,
Are now returning with their English Friends,
And by these numerous Lights direct their Nightly March.
Front.
Ha! We too in our turn shall be surpriz'd;
And which way move they?
Soul.
Directly towards the Southern Gate they advance.
Front.
Give orders that my Forces be drawn up;
My self I'll lead them to the Southern Gate,
And warmly we'll receive this desperate Foe:
Take care another Band of Fuzileers
Be Planted at the entrance to this place;
They shall receive my pleasure as I pass.
Scene 3.
Ulamar, Frontenac, Miramont.Front.
Hold! Let me see! This Angian Captive yet
Is in my pow'r; how long he may remain so
Heav'n only knows! If he escapes I am lost,
My orders from the Court are so severe,
On this Alarm my Duty calls me hence.
[To Ula.
Ten Minutes yet thou hast left thee to declare,
If before they expire, thou wilt be ours,
Thou may'st be happy, else thou know'st thy doom.
Scene 4.
Ulamar, Miramont.Mir.
The time allow'd thee to resolve is short;
Then I entreat thee make thy dearest use of it.
Ul.
I was about it.
Thou say'st thou art my Friend.
Mir.
I say I am thy Friend: Let Flatterers say
Brave Youth, for I have shewn I am thy Friend;
Live but an hour and thou wilt find me such,
Find I have boldly ventur'd all to save thee;
Done more for thee than ever I would do,
Ev'n for my nearest and most dear Relations;
Thou to my Soul are dearer than them all,
Related to me by a Nobler way;
My Kindred they in Blood, but thou in Virtue.
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Then let me take my leave of my Irene.
Mir.
Thou know'st not what thou ask'st, thy time is short,
And should'st thou see her, thy few pretious moments
Would be in empty Lamentations lost.
Ul.
Then bind thy self by Solemn Vows to Guard her
From all unworthy usage when I'm gone.
Mir.
Come, I'll do more for thee;
For thou shalt Live, and be thy self her Guardian:
What can'st thou poorly Die, and thy brave Friends
So near, who come to free thee from these Bonds,
To free us all from our Insulting Tyrant!
Can'st thou desert the great supports of Liberty,
And tamely Die?
Ul.
Tamely?
Mir.
Ay, Tamely!
Ul.
Oh give me but a Sword, and thou shalt see
How Tamely I will fall.
Mir.
How would'st thou use it.
Ul.
I'll thro' thy Numerous Sentries force my way,
And mounting o're the Ramparts Joyn my Friends.
Mir.
Impossible! Thou would'st betray thy self
And me to Fate, and would'st prevent thy Friends.
Ul.
What can I do besides!
Mir.
Declare.
Ul.
What for the French!
Against whose Crimes so Justly thou Inveigh'st?
Mir.
Do you think I ask thee to Declare for ever?
Thy Sentiments disemble but an Hour.
Ul.
Is Death so Dreadful?
Mir.
Consider but the happy Consequence.
Ul.
The Consequence is Guilt, Remorse and Shame,
You punish with an Ignominious Death,
They who desert your false and guilty Cause,
And would have me a Fugitive from Truth,
A Fugitive from Virtue?
Mir.
But for an Hour.
Ul.
But Virtue oft deserted for an Hour,
Resents it deeply, and upon the Wing
Is gone past all return.
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Three minutes yet are left thee to Declare.
Ul.
Then welcome Death the Fourth, for that brings, Liberty.
Mir.
Think that the happiness of ev'n a World
Depends upon thy Life.
Ul.
Know that Worlds Happiness depends on one
Who will not have it sav'd so base a way.
Mir.
If thou art so hard hearted to thy self,
Do something yet for me, who have done for thee,
More than thou know'st, or wouldst with ease believe.
Ul.
Thou art so Generous, I could Die for thee,
Be satisfy'd with that.
Mir.
Nay but thou shalt not, thus continue obstinate,
Descend to be intreated for thy self.
Ul.
'Tis they are Obstinate, who are in the wrong:
I never was more Right.
Mir.
'Tis past; How vain 'tis to contend with Fate.
Scene 5.
Ulamar, Miramont, Officer and Guards.Offi.
Where is this Angian?
Ul.
Here.
Offi.
Count Frontenac our Governour, has sent me
T' enquire of thee for whom thou wilt declare.
Ul.
For Liberty.
Offi.
Then Death shall set thee free:
Here bind him.
Mir.
Stay yet a Moment.
Offi.
I dare not stay,
Our General will be here Immediately,
And when he comes, expects to find him Dead.
Ul.
Farewell my absent Dear, protect her Heav'n,
And make this gentle to her tender Heart;
'Tis a severe Divorse, but we must bear it.
Mir.
How my Heart Bleeds for him.
Offi.
Come, away with him.
Ul.
Wilt thou be good, and think of lost Irene?
Mir.
Had I an only Daughter, Fair as Virtue,
She should be less my Care.
Ul.
Farewel my Generous Friend.
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Let me Embrace thee, Dearer than my Life,
Dear as my Fame, this Seperation Wounds me,
And makes me Bleed, as if thou wert a part of me,
Dear hapless Youth, eternally Farewel!
Scene 5.
Ulamar, Miramont, Sakia, Officer, and Guards.Sak.
He Lives, and the Eternal Pow'rs are Just:
He Lives, stand off, and let a wretched Mother
Embrace the Joy and Comfort of her Life.
Oh Ulamar, thou darling of my Soul!—
Offi.
What means this Woman with her clamorous fondness:
Present, dispatch him instantly.
Sak.
Hurt him, and thou shalt be Ten Years a dying.
Where's Miramont?
Mir.
Ha!
Offi.
Shoot him ye Slaves; how dare ye disobey?
Mir.
Hold! On thy Life forbear! She shall be heard first.
Offi.
With this I shall acquaint our Governour.
Do you remain, and Guard your Prisoner well.
Scene 6.
Ulamar, Miramont, Sakia, and Guards.Mir.
Who asks for Miramont?
Sak.
Sakia.
Mir.
Sakia?
Sak.
Yes; so the Angians call me; but I had
Another Name upon th' Huronian Lake.
Mir.
Tell now I never saw thee.
Sak.
I tell thee 'tis for Miramont I ask.
Mir.
Men call me Miramont.
Sak.
Thee? I know thee not.
How long hast thou been here in Canada?
Mir.
The Sun has five times rowl'd about the Year,
Since first I Landed on your Indian Shoar.
Sak.
I want another Captain of thy Name.
Mir.
In Canada there is no other Miramont.
Sak.
Thou art mistaken; I have often seen him,
And know him well.
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Twelve Years ago you may have seen another;
But then his Elder Brother Childless dy'd;
And he return'd to France.
Sak.
Ye have utterly abandon'd us ye Heav'ns!
And what became of him?
Mir.
In France Sev'n years with Honours Crown'd he liv'd,
And then he left it for a better World.
Sak.
Dead! Is he dead? O the most lost of Women!
Mir.
Hear me.
Sak.
Answer me.
Who was that Miramont that Fought this morn
With my poor dying Son?
Mir.
'Twas I: But hear me Madam.
Sak.
Horrour and Destraction seize me!
Henceforth I'll be as deaf to all the World,
As Heav'n has been to me.
Mir.
Hear me but a word!
Sak.
At length shew mercy ye afflicting Pow'rs,
And send more weight to crush the Wretch you have made.
Mir.
Strange Prepossession!
Sak.
This weight of Woe I cannot, will not bear!
I faint, I die, support thy wretched Mother,
And leave her not in this extream necessity.
Ah Woe! Thou art thy self in dire necessity,
Hopeless, forlorn, of all the World mistaken:
But who has brought thee to this dismal end.
O wretch, the most Accurst of Heav'n! Thus, thus
I dash against the Ground the fatal cause.
[Falls.
And art thou gone, for ever gone my Miramont:
Then all the World is gone with wretched me;
Here let me end my miserable Life:
My miserable Life's already ended,
And I am in the number of those things
That were, and are no more. I come my Miramont!
Methinks I see thy awful Ghost appear,
And beckon me away to that strange Land.
From whence there's no return: Yes now I see thee
Just with that mournful look, that fatal frown,
With which thou now for three successive Nights
Hast broke my dreadful Slumbers, t' upbraid me
For my unkind delay: But I it seems
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Mistook the mortal Summons.
Scene 7.
Frontenac, Ulamar, Miramont, Sakia, Officer and Guards.Sak.
Ha! Gods! He comes, with the same frown he comes;
Do you call this fancy! O I shall be mad,
I shall be mad with Joy, with Fear, with Wonder!
O thou who hast the Charms to make Death lovely:
What would'st thou with that pale astonish'd look?
Such as the Dying wear, or Dead who arise:
Com'st thou to call thy miserable Wife?
She comes, in life and death thy own Nikaia.
[Draws a Dagger.
Front.
Nikaia!
Sak.
Ha! more Astonishment! He speaks, he calls;
Do you hear? Do you see? Or is this Madness all?
Front.
Oh my Astonish'd Soul! It is Nikaia:
Sak.
Again in an afflicted Tone he calls,
I come.
Front.
O hold!
[Lays hold on the Dagger.
Sak.
Ah Gods! He lives, I die; Ah Miramont!
Front.
Thou shalt die here then in these longing Arms;
Dear to my Heart, as the Life-Blood that warms it:
Feel how with Sprightly heats it calls thee back
To Life and Love again.
Sak.
It is, it is my Miramont!
Oh 'tis too much ye Pow'rs, I connot bear it,
I Die, the mighty Joy devours my Life;
My Love, my Life, my Miramont.
Front.
And doest thou Live? and art thou in my Arms?
Where hast thou past so many Cruel years?
O let these Tears of flowing Joy acquaint thee,
How bitterly I've mourn'd thy fatal Loss!
What hast thou Suffer'd in this rude Captivity?
O thou hast suffer'd what no Tongue can tell?
How hast thou mourn'd for thy afflicted Mate!
For sure thy Grief was equal to thy Love,
And never any Flame could equal thine.
Sak.
No we will never, never part again!
Alas I had forgot our Miramont—
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Ha! What of that dear Creature! how I tremble!
Thy looks inform me, that my dearest Hope
The Joy, and Comfort of my Life is lost.
Sak.
He Lives, but on the very Brink of Fate:
Alas! They Murder him!
Front.
They? who!
Sak.
The Barbarous Governour.
Front.
The Governour! my Life! what Governour?
Sak.
The Governour of this new France.
Front.
Who has deluded thee?
The Governour of France is in thy Arms.
Sak.
The Governour of France is Frontenac;
And art not thou my Miramont?
Front.
I always was, I always will be thine,
And formerly I was thy Miramont,
But by my Brothers death am Frontenac,
Thus are our names by custom chang'd in France.
Sak.
O Horrour! horrour!
O wretch, what dreadful Guilt hast thou escap'd?
Behold thy Son, whom thou art about to Murder?
Frone.
Ha! Where?
Srk.
There, there behold him.
Front.
Ha, thy wonder and thy Joy distract thee!
He who stands there, is General of the Angians.
Sak.
As sure as he is General of the Angians,
He is thy Son and mine, 'tis thy own Miramont.
Front.
O I am lost and swallow'd up in wonder!
Ye Gods, ye Gods!
These are events surpassing, all example;
These are th' amazing Miracles of Fate!
Ha!
Perish all Tyrants, and their black Commands!
[Embraces Ul.
Ul.
Ay, in that Godlike Voice, I hear my Father.
Front.
Oh Miramont! my Son, my Son, forgive me!
Ul.
You gave me Life, and you may take it back.
Front.
That Life I gave thee, to defend I'll die;
Dear to my Heart, and lovely to my Eyes!
Come to my Arms once more, Indulge thy Father's fondness,
My Wife, and Son recover'd in an Hour;
And such a Son! O I am Blest
Above my fondest Hope.
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To interrupt this more than Mortal Joy;
And thou brave Miramont, my generous Friend,
Thou to whose rare and unexampled Virtue,
I owe the Joy and darling of my Life.
Embrace the worth thou hast sav'd, 'twas thy own Blood,
[Mira. Embra. Ula.
Which to preserve, thou nobly did'st contend.
Sak.
Why woul'st thou drive me to dispair by, saying
Front. talks apart with his Son.
My Miramont was in another World.
Mir.
You would not hear me out.
We esteem this a World distinct from ours.
[Apart.]
I must be gone, th' appointed minutes come.
Scene 8.
Frontenac, Ulamar, Sakia, Guards.Front.
Loose thee, I'll loose my self first.
Ul.
Your King will have it so, and I must die.
Front.
Where are the English?
Ul.
Ay, that's my Father's Voice, great Nature's Voice:
The Voice of Heav'n is that. What shout is that.
[Shout.
Front.
No Matter. Now the Angians are my Friends;
Rally thy flying Squadrons with the morn,
Ul.
Before the Sun has finish'd three Careers;
The Warlike English, and th' united Iroquois,
Shall hail thee King of all Canadian France.
Front.
VVhat Sacrifice my Son to Lawless sway!
Ul.
For Fifty rowling Years the wretched French,
Have to their Tyrants Sacrific'd their Sons;
But to rash thoughless Men the Horrours less,
Because th' effect insensibly comes on:
They have been the most abandon'd of all Slaves.
Front.
But I'm a Slave; my aspiring Boy no more.
Ul.
Oh the blest sound!
Front.
O I am rous'd from my Lethargick Dream;
And when we have been refresh'd with short repose,
We will to Arms, to glorious Arms my Boy,
And Godlike Liberty shall be the word.
Ul.
O that some Angel with his Golden Trump
Would make that Voice thro' the wide VVorld resound;
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But ah, these Transports are too Fierce to last;
And th' Angry Gods remand me to my Griefs.
Where's my Irene?
Scene 9.
Frontenac, Ulamar, Sakia, Irene.Ire.
She comes, she flies to that Enchanting Voice.
Ul.
O let me press thee to my very heart;
From which ev'n Fate had not the pow'r to tear thee.
Sir, I us'd no entreaty for my Life;
But for my Love thus low I humbly bow.
[Kneels.
That you'd consent to make it happy here.
Front.
Take her, She's thine; but cherish her like Life;
She merits all thy Love; and more I prize her
For the Rich Dowry of her matchless Virtue;
Than if extended Empire were her lot.
Sak.
O the most blissful hour of all my Life!
My long Calamities be quite forgot,
And let me give up all my Soul to Joy!
Ul.
VVhere hast thou past this doleful dismal hour;
In dreadful expectation of what Fate
VVas terribly about to execute?
Ire.
Among a Crowd of miserable Slaves;
VVhere hearing of thy Death in wild Despair;
I made a dire attempt upon my Life,
When gracious Heav'n by Miracle preserv'd me.
Ul.
To preserve thee, what God would not appear?
Ire.
No, 'twas no God, but 'twas a Godlike Man.
Scene 10.
Frontenac, Ulamar, Sakia, Irene, Miramont, Beaufort.Shout
Ul.
'Twas he, by Heav'n, it cou'd be none but he,
Beaufort, thou best of Men, thou best of Friends,
Come to my Arms, come to my Heart my Friend;
This is the wondrous Man to whom I owe
[To Front.
My Life, my Liberty, my Fortune, Fame,
And 'tis to him that you my Mother owe.
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Too warmly then I never can receive him.
[Embrace.
Ule.
Art thou Return'd? Art thou within our Walls?
Where hast thou left thy Enshlish?
Beauf.
The English, and your Rallied Angians now
Are most within the Town.
Ul.
More Miracles! Astonishing event!
Front.
Now by my Soul, they'r truly welcome all;
And this exactly to my wish has happen'd;
But without Fighting, how could this be done!
Beauf.
While on the South we made a false Attack,
Brave Miramont upon th' appointed Signal
Gave us admirtance at the Northern Gate.
Front.
The appointed Signal, you amaze me, Sir.
Beauf.
Two hours are scarse elaps'd since this brave Man
To me dispatch'd a Messenger express,
Inviting me to come and save my Ulamar,
And for my Entrance gave a certain Signal,
I on the warmest Wings of Frindship flew,
Yet had arriv'd too late with all my Speed,
Had not kind Heav'n in Mercy interpos'd
By this so wonderful Discovery,
With which Brave Miramont has Entertain'd me.
Front.
What say our Souldiers, Miramont?
Mir.
They with the English, and the Angians mix,
And Peace and Joy, in all there looks appear:
Impatiently they wait for your Assent,
To cry Hail Frontenac, and Liberty.
Front.
That shall not long be wanting.
Ul.
But now unanimously, thanks we pay,
To thee Brave Miramont, and thee my Beaufort,
O Truly Great! O Truly worthy Son,
Of Great Britania thro' the World renown'd,
For propping falling Liberty,
Supporting sinking Nations!
There is more Excellence, more Godlike greatness
In rescuing one poor wretch from Dire Calamities,
Than in subverting and destroying Empires,
And making Millions wretched.
Beauf.
To Heav'n unanimously praise return,
And thankful for this wonderful deliverance:
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And cast not off your Makers sway for Mans;
Be Govern'd still by Reason and by Law,
And let your Monarch still be Heav'ns Vicegerent,
And execute his Masters will, not his:
Thus Govern'd, we are Absolutely Free,
Heav'n and good Kings give prefect Liberty,
And from this wonderous Night, let all Men learn,
Never to Sacrifice the Publick Good
Either to Foreign, or to Home-bred Tyrants,
For the vile Interest of themselves and Families;
For that upon their Families and selves
Brings certain Ruin: May all France like you
[To Front.
Have their Eyes open'd, and with Horrour see,
How to their Tyrants will they offer up
Their Children, and their whole Posterity
The thing which Heav'n and Nature most abhors;
May they see this like you, like you detest it,
Then grow like you, Impatient to be Free,
With us Asserting Godlike Liberty.
FINIS.
| Liberty Asserted | |