Mid the low murmurs of fubmissive fear And mingled rage, My Hampden rais'd his voice, And to the laws appeal'd; the laws no more In judgment fate, behov'd some other ear; 1015 When instant from the keen resentive North, By long oppreffion, by religion rous'd, The guardian-army came. Beneath its wing Was call'd, tho' meant to furnish hostile aid, The more than Roman senate. There a flame 1020 Broke out that clear'd, consum'd, renew'd the land. In deep emotion hurl'd, nor Greece, nor Rome, Indignant bursting from a tyrant's chain, While, full of Me, each agitated foul Strung every nerve, and flam'd in every eye, 1025 Had e'er beheld such light and heat combin'd! Such heads and heart! fuch dreadful zeal, led on By calm majeftic Wisdom, taught its course What nuisance to devour; such wisdom fir'd With unabating zeal, and aim'd fincere To clear the weedy state, restore the laws, And for the future to fecure their sway. This, then, the purpose of My mildest sons; But man is blind. A nation once inflam'd (Chief should the breath of factious Fury blow, 1035 With the wild rage of mad enthusiast swell'd) Not easy cools again. From breast to breast, From eye to eye, the kindling paffions mix In heightened blaze, and, ever wife and just,

1030 1041

High Heaven to gracious ends directs the storm.
Thus in one conflagration Britain wrapt,
And by Confusion's lawless fons despoil'd,
King, Lords, and Commons, thundering to the ground,
Successive, rush'd.-Lo! from their ashes rose,
Gay-beaming radiant youth, the Phoenix-state*. 1045
The grevious yoke of vafsalage, the yoke
Of private life, lay by those flames diffolv'd;
And from the wasteful, the luxurious king +,
Was purchas'd that which taught the young to bend.
Stronger restor'd, the Commons tax'd the whole,
And built on that eternal rock their power.
The crown, of its hereditary wealth
Defpoil'd, on Senates more dependant grew,
And they more frequent, more assur'd. Yet lived,
And in full vigour spread that bitter root,
The passive doctrines, by their patrons first
Oppos'd, ferocious, when they touch themselves.
This wild delusive cant, the rash cabal

1051

1055

Of hungry courtiers, ravenous for prey,
The bigot, restless in a double chain

1660

To blind a-new the land, the constant need
Of finding faithless means, of shifting forms,
And flattering senates to supply his waste;
These tore some moments from the careless Prince,
And in his breast awak'd the kindred plan. 1065
By dangerous softness long he min'd his way;

By fubtle arts, dissimulation deep;
By sharing what Corruption shower'd, profuse;
By breathing wide the gay licentious plague,

And pleasing manners, fitted to deceive.

At last subsided the delirious joy,

1070

On whose high billow, from the faintly reign,
The nation drove too far. A pension'd king,
Against his country brib'd by Gallic gold,
The port pernicious fold *, the Scylla since, 1075
And fell Charybdis, of the British seas;
Freedom attack'd abroad †, with furer blow
To cut it off at home; the Saviour-League ‡
Of Europe broke; the progress even advane'd
Of universal fway, which to reduce
Such seas of blood and treasure Britain cost;
The millions, by a generous people given,
Or squander'd vile, or to corrupt, disgrace,
And awe the land with forces not their own 4,
Employ'd; the darling Church herfelf betray'd;
All these, broad glaring, ope'd the general eye, 1086
And wak'd My spirit, the resisting soul.

1080

Mild was, at first, and half asham'd, the check

Of fenates, shook from the fantastic dream
Of abfolute fubmiffion, tenets vile !

1090

Which slaves would blush to own, and which, reduc'd

* Dunkirk.

+ The war, in conjunction with France, against the Dutch.
The Triple Alliance.
|| Under Lewis XIV.

+ A ftanding army, raised without the consent of parliament.

To practice, always honest Nature shock.
Not even the mask remov'd, and the fierce front

Of Tyranny disclos'd, nor trampled laws,

1100

Nor feiz'd each badge of Freedom * thro' the land,
Nor Sidney bleeding for th' unpublish'd page, 1096
Nor on the bench avow'd Corruption plac'd,
And murderous Rage itself, in Jefferies' form,
Nor endless acts of arbitrary power,
Cruel, and false, could raise the public arm.
Distrustful, scattered, of combining chiefs
Devoid, and dreading blind rapacious War,
The patient Public turns not, till impell'd
To the near verge of ruin. Hence I rous'd
The bigot king t, and hurry'd fated on
His meafures immature. But chief his zeal,
Outflaming Rome herself, portentous scar'd
The troubled nation: Mary's horrid days
To fancy bleeding rose, and the dire glare
Of Smithfield lightened in its eyes anew.
Yet filence reign'd. Each on another scowl'd
Rueful amazement, pressing down his rage:
As, mußering vengeance, the deep thunder frowns,
Awfully still, waiting the high command

1105

1110

1116

To spring. Straight from his country Europe sav'd,
To fave Britannia, lo! my darling fon,
Than hero more! the patriot of mankind!
Immortal Naffau came. I hush'd the deep,

* The charters of corporations.

+ James. II,

By demons rous'd, and bade the lifted winds*,
Still shifting as behov'd, with various breath, 1120
Waft the Deliverer to the longing shore.

See! wide alive, the foaming Channel + bright
With swelling fails, and all the pride of War,
Delightful view! when Justice draws the sword:
And mark! diffusing ardent foul around,
1125
And sweet contempt of death, My streaming flag ‡.
Even adverse navies || bless'd the binding gale,
Kept down the glad acclaim, and filent joy'd.
Arriv'd, the pomp, and not the waste of arms,
His progress mark'd. The faint opposing host +
For once, in yielding their best victory found, 1131
And by defertion prov'd exalted faith;
While his, the bloodless conquest of the heart,
Shouts without groan, and triumph without war.
Then dawn'd the period destin'd to confine 1135
The furge of wild Prerogative, to raise