LORD CHATHAM's PROPHECY, A N -O DE; ADDRESSED TO LIEUTENANT GENERAL GAGEN With Explanatory and Critical Notes, The foul's dark cottage, batter'd and decay'd, Lets in new light, thro' chinks which time has made. WALLER, TO THE REVEREND DOCTOR PRICE. YOUR Philofophical Obfervations on the Nature of Civil Liberty, firft fuggefted the idea of writing this Ode :-You have, therefore, an unalienable claim to the Dedication; and as I have not the honour of being a Minifter, I feel no propenfity to deprive you of your juft rights.Accept of it, Sir, as a mark of respect and gratitude, from one, actuated by the fame principles, the the fame ardent attachment to the constitution of Britain, and the rights of mankind, which have -fo honourably diftinguished you. WHEN boafting Gage was hurry'd o'er And plead Britannia's right, Bute lent him-Second Sight! "Ye Gods! I fee the mortal ftrife" I fee Lord Percy and thy wife Shut up in yonder lines; Brave Putnam cuts off all relief, From Noddle-island drives your beef, "And the whole army pines." II. Intrepid Graves triumphant floats Young Hotfpur won't difdain to fly III. In vain your ‡ plumed corps § Smith cheers, To evince the practicability of taxing and coercing America, the admiral (it is faid) compelled the Bostonians to pay tribute, not to Cæfar, but to himself, for permiflion to catch fish for the use of the garrifon.-As North America is virtu ally included in Stepney parish, this politic naval commander thought it his duty to collect the tythes and first-fruits for the benefit of his chaplain; and by this fpirited measure, afferted and maintained the conftitutional fupremacy (civil and ecclefiaftical) of Great Britain over all her rebellious colonies. The officers ludicrously called the retreat from Lexington, where Lord Percy commanded- -The battle of Chevy Chace. Plumed-only denotes the feathers with which the caps of the light infantry (and ladies) are decorated, with for much grace and propriety; ́ as feathers are emblems of lightnefs, even to a proverb. Lieut. Col. Smith of the roth regiment, who commanded the grenadiers and light infantry of the whole army at Lexington. VOL. II. E Long Long us'd the field to win ; IV. True ;-you've falt pork enough in ftore, And fwear that cool Jack Montrefor If Lord Sandwich (at that time firft Lord of the Admiralty) so diftinguished for fagacity and political knowledge, Ys to be credited, a grenadier's cap contains much gorgonian virtue: It has been announced so by his lordship; and who doubts his word?-In short, the ftarvation act, the Quebec, and Bofton port bills, fupported by the tremendous nodding of a grenadier's cap, were esteemed by his lordship and co. the mildest, best, and most persuasive mode of establishing the fupremacy of the British legislature, of proving the virtual representation of America by the commons of England, and deducing the unlimited right of taxation from this conAitutional principle. "The Americans (said his lordship,) in one of his fpirited and elegant speeches last seffion) will down with their mufquets and run, before the grenadiers can adjust their caps." * The spirit-ftirring effects of rum, our foldiers are no Arangers to; but hymns are a yanky cordial, which an English foldier's ftomach would nauseate, tho' this Cromwellian fpecific has been found an excellent preservative against panic fears, by the enthusiastic provincials, Excells Excells Vauban in skill; -Yet Britain's heroes bite the plain, Her generous chiefs round Howe are flain, "And fall on Bunker's hill.” "Some tuneful bard who pants for fame" For Spartan valour here renoun'd, V. Tho' darkness all th' horizon fhroud, -Yet Franklin, vers'd in nature's laws, -Fame can twine No brighter laurels round his glorious head To feal his country's liberty by death. GLOVER'S LEONIDAS, B. ii. |