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The violated merchant comes along,

That far fought wealth, for which the noxious gale
He drew, and fwate beneath Equator funs,

By lawless force detain'd; a force that foon
Would melt away, and every spoil refign,
Were once the British Lion heard to roar.
Whence is it that the proud Iberian thus,
In their own well-afferted element,

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Dares rouze to wrath the masters of the main? 55
Who told him that the big incumbent war
Would not, ere this, have roll'd his trembling ports
In fmoky ruin? and his guilty ftores,
Won by the ravage of a butcher'd world,
Yet unaton'd, funk in the fwallowing deep,
Or led the glittering prize into the Thames?

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There was a time (oh let my languid fons Refume their fpirit at the rouzing thought!) When all the pride of Spain, in one dread fleet, Swell'd o'er the lab'ring furge, like a whole heaven65 Of clouds, wide roll'd before the boundless breeze. Gaily the fplendid armament along

Exultant plough'd, reflecting a red gleam,

As funk the fun o'er all the flaming Vast;

Tall, gorgeous, and elate, drunk with the dream 70 Of eafy conqueft; while their bloated War, Stretch'd out from sky to fky, the gathered force Of ages held in its capacious womb:

But foon, regardless of the cumbrous pomp,

My dauntless Britons came, a gloomy Few!
With tempeft black the goodly scene deform'd,

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And laid their glory waste. The bolts of Fate
Refiftless thundered thro' their yielding fides;
Fierce o'er their beauty blaz'd the lurid flame;
And, feiz'd in horrid grasp, or shatter'd wide 80
Amid the mighty waters, deep they funk.
Then, too, from every promontory chill,
Rank fen, and cavern, where the wild wave works,
I fwept confederate winds, and fwell'd a ftorm.
Round the glad ifle, fnatch'd by the vengeful blaft, 85
The fcattered remnants drove; on the blind fhelve
And pointed rock, that marks th' indented shore,
Relentless dafh'd, where loud the northern main
Howls thro' the fractur'd Caledonian ifles.

Such were the dawnings of my wat❜ry reign; 90 But fince how vaft it grew, how abfolute,

Even in those troubled times, when dreadful Blake Aw'd angry nations with the British name, et every humbled ftate, let Europe fay, ftain'd and balanc'd by my naval arm.

h! what muft thofe immortal spirits think

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of your poor fhifts? thofe, for their country's good, Who fac'd the blackeft danger, knew no fear, No mean fubmiffion, but commanded peace ? Ah! how with indignation must they burn? (If aught but joy can touch ethereal breasts) With fhame, with grief, to see their feeble sons

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Shrink from that empire o'er the conquer'd feas
Forwhich their wisdom plann'd, theircouncilsglow'd,
And their veins bled, thro' many a toiling age. 105
Oh! firft of human bleffings, and fupreme,
Fair Peace! how lovely, how delightful thou!
By whose wide tie the kindred fons of men
Like brothers live, in amity combin'd,
And unfufpicious faith; while honest Toil
Gives every joy, and to those joys a right,
Which idle barbarous Rapine but ufurps.
Pure is thy reign, when, unaccurs'd by blood,
Nought fave the fweetnefs of indulgent fhowers,
Trickling, diftils into the vernant glebe;
Inftead of mangled carcaffes, fad-seen,

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When the blithe fheaves lie fcattered o'er the field;
When only shining fhares, the crooked knife,
And hooks, imprint the vegetable wound;
When the land blushes with the rofe alone,
The falling fruitage and the bleeding vine.
Oh, Peace! thou fource and foul of focial life,
Beneath whofe calm inspiring influence
Science his views enlarges, Art refines,

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And swelling Commerce opens all her ports:
Blett be the man divine who gives us thee!
Who bids the Trumpet hufh his horrid clang,
Nor blow the giddy nations into rage;

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Who fheaths the murderous blade; the deadly gun Into the well-pil'd armoury returns!

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And, every vigour from the work of death
To grateful industry converting, makes
The country flourish, and the city smile.
Unviolated, him the virgin fings,

And him the smiling mother to her train :
Of him the shepherd, in the peaceful dale,
Chaunts; and, the treasures of his labour fure,
The hufbandman of him, as at the plough

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Or team he toils. With him the failor fooths,
Beneath the trembling moon, the midnight wave; 140
And the full city, warm, from street to ftreet,
And shop to shop, refponfive, rings of him.
Nor joys one land alone; his praise extends
Far as the fun rolls the diffusive day;

Far as the breeze can bear the gifts of Peace,

Till all the happy nations catch the fong.

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What would not, Peace! the patriot bear for thee?
What painful patience? what inceffant care?
What mixt anxiety? what fleepless toil?

Even from the rafh, protected, what reproach? 150
For he thy value knows, thy friendship, he,
To human nature: but the better thou,
The richer of delight, fometimes the more
Inevitable War; when ruffian Force

Awakes the fury of an injur'd state,

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Even the good patient man, whom Reason rules,
Rous'd by bold infult, and injurious rage,
With sharp and fudden check th' astonish'd fons

Of Violence confounds, firm as his caufe
His bolder heart; in awful justice clad,
His eyes effulging a peculiar fire;

And as he charges thro' the proftrate war,
His keen arm teaches faithless men no more
To dare the facred vengeance of the just.

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more

And what,my thoughtless Sons!fhould fire you Than when your well-earn'd Empire of the Deep 166 The leaft beginning injury receives?

What better caufe can call your lightning forth? Your thunder wake? your dearest life demand? What better caufe, than when your country fees 170 The fly deftru&tion at her vitals aim'd?

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For, oh! it much imports you, 'tis your all,
To keep your trade entire, entire the force,
And honour of your fleets; o'er that to watch,
Even with a hand fevere, and jealous eye.
In intercourse be gentle, generous, juft,
By wisdom polish'd, and of manners fair;
But on the fea be terrible, untam'd,

Unconquerable ftill; let none escape,

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Who fhall but aim to touch your glory there. 180 Is there the man into the lion's den

Who dares intrude, to fnatch his young away?

And is a Briton feiz'd? and feiz'd beneath

The flumbering terrors of a British fleet?

Then ardent rife! oh! great in vengeance rife! 185 O'erturn the proud, teach Rapine to restore;

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