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