Art thou persuaded, for a moment cool, That nature made thee slave, and mark'd thee fool, That what we won by hardy war, was given, That non-resistance is secure of heaven; That persecution in our infant state, Was nursing kind compassion in the great ; That emigration was not to secure Our liberties, but to enslave the more ; That charters, privileges, patents, powers, Were ours till now, and now no longer ours; To claim exemption by the charter seal, Will rashly violate the common weal; Juries are nuisances, and traffic worse, And to be blind, sagacity of course; The stamp and land tax are as blessings meant, And opposition is our free consent; That where we are not, we most surely are, That wrong is right, black white, and foul is fair ; That Mansfield's honest, and that Pitt's a knave, That Pratt's a villain, and that Wilkes 's a slave; That godlike Temple is not greatly good, Nor Bute a rigid jacobite by blood; That sordid Grenville lately is become The patron of our liberties at home, (For whom, now hear me, gods! be hell inflamed, And murderers of their country doubly d-d) Now stretch thy pliant faith, adopt this creed, And be a J-r-d Ing-rs-l indeed; If thou art wretched, crawling in the dust, Condemn’d, despised, and herded with the just : Frown, honest Satire ! menace what you will, Rogues rise luxuriant, and defeat you still ; Fatigued with numbers, and oppress’d with gall, One general curse must overwhelm them all : But O ye vilest vile, detested few ! Eager, intent, and potent to undo; Come out, ye parricides ! here take your stand, Your solemn condemnation is at hand; Behold your crimes, and tremblingly await The grumbling thunder of your country's hate ; Accursed as ye are! how durst ye bring An injured people to distrust their king? Accursed as ye are, how could ye dare, To lisp delusion in your monarch's ear? How do I laugh, when such vain coxcombs lower, Some grave pretence of dread, from lawless power; To hear a scribbling fry, beneath my hate, Adopt the fraud, and sanctify deceit; With mean importance, point regardless stings, Witness, ye fathers! whose protracted time, Fruitful of story, chronicles the clime; These howling deserts, hospitably tame, Erst snatch'd ye, martyrs, from the hungry flame; ’T was heaven's own cause, beneath whose sheltering power, Ye grew the wonder of the present hour ; Call truth a libel, treason, honest zeal, Fop, witling, favorite, stampman, tyrant, tool, Where lies our remedy, in humble prayer ? Our lordly butchers have forgot to hear; 'Tis rank rebellion, rashness to complain, And all submission tighter tugs the chain : Go ask your heart, your honest heart regard, And manumission is your sure reward; Would'st thou be blest, thy sovereign pride lay by, To tyrant custom give the hardy lie; Yon shag will warm thee, in thy country fleece Sleeps independence lined with balmy peace; Would'st thou be blest? be diligent! be wise ! And niake a chaste sufficiency suffice : Ye lovely fair ! whom heaven's blest charms array, The proud Sultanas of some future day; Sweet as ye are, complete in every grace, That spreads angelic softness o'er the face; Go ply the loom—there lies the happy art, By new avenues to attack the heart; With labors of your own, but deck those charms, We'll rush with transport to your blissful arms. Amid this wreck- -from all aspersions clear, Nay blush not, Peter, honest truths to hear; Base adulation never stain'd my lay, But modest merit must be brought to day; What though thy great desert mounts far above To close--dread sovereign at whose sacred seaty LINES ON THE ACCESSION OF GEORGE II. WHERE thick embowering shades, and clustering trees, Form soft recess, and shed poetic ease; Inarching boughs embrown the silent way, Fan breezy cool, and half exclude the day : A moss-clad rock here spread its bulky base, Where the lithe ivy winds its close embrace; Beneath its slope-grey parent of the wood, A mouldering oak, grotesque and naked, stood; From its chafed root, a gurgling rivulet strays, The swift wing'd breeze, excursive, wafts the sound, “Lower on, ye sables, shed a tenfold gloom! George is deceased, and earth is but his tomb; The heavens were deaf, when Albion pour'd her cries : Ah fruitless anguish ! ah relentless skies ! War on, ye elements, ye tempests sweep The heaving bosom of the hoary deep; Ye trembling forests hide your faded green, May darksome horrors wrap the saddening scene ; Ye verdant walks a sicklier face shall wear, No flowers, to breathe soft incense through the air ; Their savory banquets shall the flocks refrain, Nor crop the velvet of the pasturing plain; No fostering showers from hence refresh the lawn, No arly blessings cheer the parching dawn; The widow'd groves lost foliage shall deplore, And balmy zephyrs gather sweets no more : Thy George, 0 Albion! Heaven declines to spare, Bestow'd too long to prevalence of prayer; Albion! thy parent dies !-as bless'd a mind, As heaven could furnish to exalt mankind; Religion, mercy, peace, his steps attend, And numerous virtues all their lustres lend; His guide was truth, benevolence his road, His life, one effort of redundant good; No sword of violence protects a crime, Stains the clear page, or dims the golden time ; No vice illustrious stalk'd behind the king, No shelter'd folly fledged beneath his wing ; No ravenous grasp, no lawless lust of power, Sullies his life, or stains a single hour; 14 VOL. I. |