Place me where Winter breathes his keenest air, 395 And I will sing at Liberty's dear feet, In Afric's torrid clime, or India's fiercest heat. A. Sing where you please; in such a cause í grant An English poet's privilege to rant; But is not Freedom-at least, is not ours, I 300 Too apt to play the wanton with her pow'rs, B. Agreed. But would you sell or slay your horse For bounding and curvetting in his course? 305 Or if, when ridden with a careless rein, He break away, and seek the distant plain? No. His high mettle, under good control, Gives him Olympick speed, and shoots him to the goal. Let Discipline employ her wholesome arts; 310 Let magistrates alert perform their parts, Not skulk or put on a prudential mask, As if their duty were a desperate task; 315 When he usurp'd Authority's just place, 320 And dar'd to look his master in the face: When the rude rabole's watchword was-destroy, And blazing London seem'd a second Troy; Liberty blush'd, and hung her drooping Lead, 325 330 May no foes ravish thee, and no false friend 335 A. Patriots, alas! the few that have been found, Where most they flourish, upon English ground, The country's need have scantily supplied, And the last left the scene, when Chathamn died. 340 Spoke from his lips, and in his looks gave law. 345 Would strive to make a Paul or Tully stand. 350 Felt himself crush'd at the first word he spoke. Such men are rais'd to station and command, 355 So Gideon earn'd a victory not his own; 360 Poor England! thou art a devoted deer, Beset with every ill but that of fear. Thee nations hunt; all mark thee for a prey; They swarm around thee, and thou stand'st at bay. 365 Undaunted still, thongh wearied and perplex'd, Once Chatham sav'd thee; but who saves thee next? Alas! the tide of pleasure sweeps along All, that should be the boast of British song. "Tis not the wreath, that once adorn'd thy brow, Confes'd a God; they kneel'd before they fought, Courage ungrac'd by these, affronts the skies, 370 375 The stream, that feeds the well-spring of the heart, 380 Than Virtue quickens with a warmth divine A. Th' inestimable Estimate of Brown 385 B. And yet his judginent was not fram'd amiss; 390 Its errour, if it err'd, was merely this He thought the dying hour already come, And a complete recov'ry struck him dumb. Enervate and enfeeble, and needs must; There is a time and Justice marks the date, 395 400 405 'Tis not, however, insolence and noise, 410 Pray'r only, and the penitential tear, Can call her smiling down, and fix her here. But when a country, (one that I could name,) In prostitution sinks the sense of shame ; 415 When infamous Venality, grown bold, Writes on his bosom, To be let or sold; 420 When Av'rice starves. (and never hides his face,) And not a tongue inquires, how, where, or when, Though conscience will have twinges now and then; When profanation of the sacred cause, 426 In all its parts, times, ministry, and laws, Bespeaks a land, once Christian, fall'n and lost, In all, but wars against that title most; What follows next let cities of great name, 430 And regions long since desolate, proclaim. Learn wisdom and repentance cre too late. Nineveh, Babylon, and ancient Rome, Speak to the present times, and times to come; They cry aloud in ev'ry careless ear, Stop while you may; suspend your mad career; 435 O learn from our example and our fate, Not only Vice disposes and prepares The mind, that slumbers sweetly in her snares, 440 To throw his dark displeasure o'er the scene. 445 All are his instruments; each form of war, What burns at home, or threatens from afar : The storms that overset the joys of life, Are but his rods to scourge a guilty land, 450 And waste it at the bidding of his hand. He gives the word, and Mutiny soon roars In all her gates, and shakes her distant shores; She has one foe, and that one foe the world. 455 And, if he doom that people with a frown, And mark them with a seal of wrath press'd down, Obduracy takes place : callous and tough, The reprobated race grows judgment proof; Earth shakes beneath them, and Heav'n roars above; 460 But nothing scares them from the course they love. To the lascivious pipe and wanton song, That charm down fear, they frolick it along, With mad rapidity and unconcern, Down to the gulf, from which is no return. 465 470 When He commands, in whom they place no trust. Vengeance at last pours down upon their coast A long despis'd, but now victorious, host; 475 A. Such lofty strains enibellish what you teach, Mean you to prophesy, or but to preach? 480 B. I know the mind that feels indeed the fire The muse imparts, and can command the lyre, Acts with a force and kindles with a zeal, Whato'er the theme, that others never feel. |