"Not dreaming then of Britain's brighter fame. 70 "She rears to Freedom an undaunted race; "Compatriot zealous, hofpitable, kind,

" Her's the warm Cambrian: her's the lofty Scot, " To hardship tam'd, active in arts and arms,

"Fir'd with a restless an impatient flame,

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"That leads him raptur'd where Ambition calls : "And English Merit her's, where meet, combin'd, "Whate'er high fancy, found judicious thought, " An ample generous heart, undrooping foul,

"And firm tenacious valour, can bestow.

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"Great nurse of fruits, of flocks, of commerce, she! "Great nurse of men; By Thee, O Goddess! taught, "Her old renown I trace, disclose her fource "Of wealth, of grandeur, and to Britons fing "A ftrain the Muses never touch'd before."

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"But how shall this Thy mighty Kingdom stand? "On what unyeilding base? how finish'd shine?" At this her eye, collecting all its fire, Beam'd more than human; and her awful voice Majestic thus she rais'd.-" To. Britons bear " This clofing strain, and with intenfer note "Loud let it found in their awaken'd ear." On Virtue can alone My Kingdom stand, On Public Virtue, every Virtue join'd, For loft this focial cement of mankind, The greatest empires, by scarce-felt degrees, Will moulder foft away, till, tottering loose,

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They prone at last to total ruin rush,
Unblest by Virtue, government a league
Becomes, a circling junto of the great,
To rob by law; religion mild a yoke
To tame the stooping foul, atrick of flate
To mask their rapine, and to share the prey.
What are without it Senates, save a face

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Of confultation deep and reason free,
While the determin'd voice and heart are fold?
What boasted Freedom, fave a founding name?
And what Election, but a market vile

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Of flaves felf-barter'd? Virtue! without thee

There is no ruling eye, no nerve, in states;
War has no vigour, and no safety peace :

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Even justice warps to party, laws oppress,

Wide thro' the land their weak protection fails, First broke the balance, and then scorn'd the sword.

Thus nations sink, society dissolves;
Rapine, and Guile, and Violence, break loofe,
Everting life, and turning love to gall!
Man hates the face of man, and Indian woods
And Libya's hissing sands to him are tame.

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By those three virtues be the frame sustain'd 120 Of British Freedom; Independent Life; Integrity in Office; and, o'er all

Supreme, A Passion for the Common-weal.

Hail, Independence! hail! Heaven's next best gift,

To that of life and an immortal foul!

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The life of life! that to the banquet high
And fober meal gives taste; to the bow'd roof

Fair-dream'd repose, and to the cottage charms. Of public Freedom, hail, thou secret Source! Whose streams, from every quarter confluent, form

My better Nile, that nurses human life.

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By rills from thee deduc'd, irriguous fed,
The private field looks gay, with Nature's wealth
Abundant flows, and blooms with each delight
That Nature craves. Its happy master there, 135
The only Freeman, walks his pleasing round,
Sweet-featur'd Peace attending, fearless Truth,
Firm Resolution, Goodness, blessing all
That can rejoice, Contentment, furest friend,
And, still fresh stores from Nature's book deriv'd, 140
Philofophy, companion ever new.
These cheer his rural, and sustain or fire,

When into action call'd, his busy hours.
Mean time true judging moderate defires,
Economy and taste, combin'd, direct
His clear affairs, and from debauching fiends
Secure his little kingdom. Nor can those

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Whom Fortune heaps, without these Virtues, reach

That truce with pain, that animated ease,
That self-enjoyment springing from within,
That Independence, active or retir'd,
Which make the foundest bliss of man below;
But, loft beneath the rubbish of their means,

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And drain'd by wants to Nature all unknown,
A wandering, tastelefs, gaily-wretched train, 155
Tho' rich are beggars, and tho' noble flaves.

Lo! damn'd to wealth, at what a grofs expense
They purchase disappointment, pain, and shame.
Instead of hearty hofpitable cheer,
See how the hall with brutal riot flows!
While in the foaming flood, fermenting, steep'd,
The country maddens into party-rage.

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Mark those disgraceful piles of wood and stone, Those parksand gardens, where, hishauntsbetrimm'd, And Nature by presumptuous Art oppress'd, 165 The woodland Genius mourns. See the full board That steams disgust, and bowls that give no joy:

No Truth invited there to feed the mind,

Nor Wit the wine-rejoicing reason quaffs.
Hark! how the dome with insolence resounds, 170

With those retain'd by Vanity to scare

Repose and friends. To tyrant Fashion mark
The costly worship paid, to the broad gaze
Of fools. From still delusive day to day,

Led an eternal round of lying hope,

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See, felf-abandon'd, how they roam adrift,
Dash'd o'er the town, a miferable wreck!
Then to adore some warbling eunuch turn'd,
With Midas' ears they crowd; or to the buzz

Of Masquerade unblushing; or, to show

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Their scorn of Nature, at the Tragic scene

They mirthful fit, or prove the Comic true.
But, chief, behold! around the rattling board,
The civil robbers rang'd; and even the Fair,
The tender Fair! each sweetness laid afide,

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As fierce for plunder as all-licens'd troops
In some fack'd city. Thus dissolv'd their wealth,

Without one generous luxury dissolv'd,

Or quarter'd on it many a needless want,

At the throng'd levee bends the venal tribe;
With fair but faithless smiles each varnish'd o'er,

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Each smooth as those that mutually deceive,

And for their falsehood each despising each,

Till shook their patron by the wintry winds,
Wide flies the withered shower, and leaves him bare.

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O far fuperior Afric's fable fons,

By merchant pilfer'd, to these willing slaves!
And rich as unsqueez'd favourite, to them,
Is he who can his Virtue boast alone!

Britons! be firm, -nor let Corruption fly
Twine round your heart indissoluble chains!
The steel of Brutus burst the grosser bonds
By Cæfar cast o'er Rome; but still remain'd
The soft enchanting fetters of the mind,
And other Cæfars rofe. Determin'd, hold
Your Independence! for that once destroy'd,
Unfounded, Freedom is a morning-dream,
That flits aërial from the spreading eye.

Forbid it, Heaven! that ever I need urge

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