Oldalképek
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And, as you ride fublimely round the world,
Make every veffel ftoop, make every state
At once their welfare and their duty know.
This is your glory; this your wisdom; this
The native power for which you were defign'd
By Fate, when Fate defign'd the firmest state
That e'er was feated on the subject sea ?

A state alone where Liberty should live

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In these late times, this evening of mankind, 195
When Athens, Rome, and Carthage, are no more!
The world almost in flavish floth diffolv'd.

For this these rocks around your coaft were thrown;
For this your oaks, peculiar hardened, shoot
Strong into sturdy growth; for this your hearts 200
Swell with a fudden courage, growing still
As danger grows; and ftrength and toil for this
Are liberal pour'd o'er all the fervent land.
Then cherish this, this unexpensive power,
Undangerous to the public, ever prompt,
By lavish Nature thrust into your hand;
And, unencumber'd with the bulk immense
Of conqueft, whence huge empires rofe, and fell
Self-crush'd, extend your reign from shore to fhore,
Where'er the wind your high behefts can blow, 210
And fix it deep on this eternal base.

For fhould the fliding fabric once give way,
Soon flackened quite, and past recovery broke,
It gathers ruin as it rolls along,

205

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teep-rushing down to that devouring gulf Where many a mighty empire buried lies. .nd fhould the big redundant flood of Trade, a which ten thousand thousand labours join 'heir feveral currents, till the boundless tide olls in a radiant deluge o'er the land, hould this bright ftream, the least inflected, points course another way, o'er other lands he various treasure would refiftlefs pour, 'e'er to be won again, its ancient tract eft a vile channel, defolate, and dead, With all around a miferable waste,

225

ot Egygt, were her better heaven, the Nile, urn'd in the pride of flow, when o'er his rocks nd roaring cataracts, beyond the reach

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f dizzy Vision pil'd, in one wide flash n Ethiopian deluge foams amain; Whence wondering fable trac'd him from the sky) 'en not that prime of earth, where harvests crowd untill'd harvests all the teeming year, of the fat o'erflowing culture robb'd, ere then a more uncomfortable wild, eril, and void, than, of her trade depriv'd, itons your boasted ifle: her princes funk, er high-built honour mouldered to the duft, inerv'd her force, her spirit vanish'd quite, 240 ith rapid wing her riches fled away,

r unfrequented ports alone the fign

Volume II.

B

this

And, as you ride fublimely round the world,
Make every veffel ftoop, make every state
At once their welfare and their duty know.
This is your glory; this your wisdom;
The native power for which you were design'd
By Fate, when Fate defign'd the firmest state
That e'er was feated on the subject sea?

A state alone where Liberty should live

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In these late times, this evening of mankind, 195
When Athens, Rome, and Carthage, are no more!
The world almoft in flavifh floth diffolv'd.

For this these rocks around your coaft were thrown;
For this your oaks, peculiar hardened, shoot
Strong into sturdy growth; for this your hearts 200
Swell with a fudden courage, growing ftill
As danger grows; and ftrength and toil for this
Are liberal pour'd o'er all the fervent land.
Then cherish this, this unexpensive power,
Undangerous to the public, ever prompt,
By lavish Nature thrust into your hand;
And, unencumber'd with the bulk immense
Of conqueft, whence huge empires rofe, and fell
Self-crush'd, extend your reign from shore to shore,
Where'er the wind your high behests can blow, 210
And fix it deep on this eternal base.

For fhould the fliding fabric once give way,
Soon flackened quite, and paft recovery broke,
It gathers ruin as it rolls along,

205

215

220

Steep-rushing down to that devouring gulf
Where many a mighty empire buried lies.
And should the big redundant flood of Trade,
In which ten thousand thousand labours join
Their feveral currents, till the boundless tide
Rolls in a radiant deluge o'er the land,
Should this bright ftream, the leaft inflected, point
Its course another way, o'er other lands
The various treasure would refiftlefs pour,
Ne'er to be won again, its ancient tract
Left a vile channel, defolate, and dead,
With all around a miferable waste,

225

Not Egygt, were her better heaven, the Nile,
Turn'd in the pride of flow, when o'er his rocks
And roaring cataracts, beyond the reach

Of dizzy Vision pil'd, in one wide flash
An Ethiopian deluge foams amain;

230

Whence wondering fable trac'd him from the sky) Even not that prime of earth, where harvests crowd On untill'd harvests all the teeming year,

235

f of the fat o'erflowing culture robb'd, Were then a more uncomfortable wild, steril, and void, than, of her trade depriv'd, Britons! your boasted ifle: her princes funk, Her high-built honour mouldered to the duft, Innerv'd her force, her spirit vanish'd quite, 240 With rapid wing her riches fled away,

ler unfrequented ports alone the fign

Volume II.

B

Of what she was, her merchants fcatter'd wide,
Her hollow fhops fhut up, and in her streets,
Her fields, woods, markets, villages, and roads, 245
The cheerful voice of Labour heard no more.

Oh! let not, then, wafte Luxury impair
That manly foul of toil which strings your nerves,
And your own proper happiness creates !

Oh! let not the foft penetrating plague

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Creep on the free-born mind, and, working there,
With the fharp tooth of many a new-form'd want,
Endlefs, and idle all, eat out the heart
Of Liberty, the high conception blast,
The noble fentiment, th' impatient scorn
Of base subjection, and the fwelling wifh
For general good erafing from the mind;
While nought fave narrow selfishness fucceeds,
And low defign, the fneaking paffions all

Let loofe, and reigning in the rankled breast. 260
Induc'd at laft, by fcarce-perceiv'd degrees,

Sapping the very frame of government
And life, a total diffolution comes;
Sloth, ignorance, dejection, flattery, fear,
Oppreffion raging o'er the wafte he makes,
The human being almoft quite extinct,
And the whole state in broad corruption finks.
Oh! fhun that gulf; that gaping ruin shun!
And countless ages roll it far away

265

From you, ye heaven-belov'd! May Liberty, 270

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