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Thy robe how chang'd from what it was before!
Thy velvet robe, which pleas'd my fires of yore!
'Tis thus capricious Fortune wheels us round;
Aloft we mount then tumble to the ground.
Yet grateful then, my conftancy I prov'd;
I knew thy worth; my friend in rags I lov'd!
I lov'd thee, more; nor like a courtier, fpurn'd
My benefactor, when the tide was turn'd.

With conscious fhame, yet frankly, I confefs,
That in my youthful days -I lov'd thee less.
Where vanity, where pleasure call'd, I stray'd;
And every wayward appetite obey'd.

But fage experience taught me how to prize
Myfelf; and how, this world: fhe bade me rife
To nobler flights, regardless of a race

Of factious emmets; pointed where to place
My blifs, and lodg'd me in thy foft embrace.

Here on thy yielding down I fit fecure;
And, patiently, what heav'n has fent, endure;
From all the futile cares of business free;
Not fond of life, but yet content to be:
Here mark the fleeting hours; regret the past;
And seriously prepare, to meet the last.

So fafe on shore the penfion'd failor lies;
And all the malice of the ftorm defies:

With ease of body bleft, and peace of mind,

Pities the restless crew he left behind
Whilft, in his cell, he meditates alone

On his great voyage, to the world unknown.

A$

The blissful feat of peace and love,
Ten thousand beauties round me rife,
And mingle pleasure with furprize,

By nature bleft in every part,
Adorn'd with every grace of art,
This paradife of blooming joys
Each raptur'd fenfe, at once, employs.

II.

But when I view the radiant queen,
Who form'd this fair enchanting scene;
Pardon ye grots! ye crystal floods!
Ye breathing flow'rs! ye fhady woods!

Your

Your coolness now no more invites;

No more your murmuring ftream delights;
Your sweets decay, your verdure's flown;
My foul's intent on her alone.

How long fhall tyrant Custom bind

In flavish chains the human mind?

How long fhall falfe fantastic Honour draw
The vengeful fword, with fury fell,

And ranc'rous Malice dark as hell,
In fpight of Reafon's rule, and Nature's eldest law?

Too many gallant youths have bled;

Too much of British blood been shed

By Britons' fwords, and that foul monfter's laws: Youths that might elfe have nobly dar'd;

More glorious wounds and dangers shar'd

For Britain's juft defence, and virtue's injur'd cause.

So

1

So when the fierce Cadmean youth

Sprung from the dragon's venom'd tooth, Each chief arofe in fhining armour drest: With rage infpir'd, the furious band

Soon found a ready foe at hand,

And plung❜d the pointed steel each in a brother's breaft.

Has Britain then no other foes,

That thus her fons their lives expose
To private war, and feuds, and civil fray?
Does Spain infult her flag no more?

Does Lewis yet his thoughts give o'er
Of universal rule, and arbitrary fway?

'Tis Britons' to fupport the law; 'Tis theirs ambitious kings to awe, And equal rights of empire to maintain.

For this our fathers, brave and ftout,

At Agincourt and Creffy fought,

[flain.

And heap'd fam'd Blenheim's field with mountains of the

How will the Gallic monarch fmile,

To fee the fons of Albion's ifle

Their country's blood with ruthlefs weapons drain!

Them

Themselves avenge the glorious day

When Marlb'rough fwept whole hofts away, And fent the frighted Danube purple to the main ! ¦

O fay, in this inglorious ftrife

Thy arm had robb'd thy friend of life,

What pangs, what anguish had thy bofom prov'd? How hadst thou curs'd the cruel deed,

That caus'd the gallant youth to bleed, Pierc'd by thy guilty fword, and flain by him he lov'd?

How did the fair Maria blame

Thy high-bred fpirit's eager flame,

That courting danger flighted her soft love?
Far other wreaths for thee fhe twin'd;

Far other cares for thee defign'd;

And for the laurel crown, the myrtle chaplet wove.

If not for her's, for Britain's fake,
Forbear thy precious life to stake;

Nor taint thy honour with so foul a deed.

One day thy country may require

Thy gallant arm and martial fire:

Then may'ft thou bravely conquer, or as bravely bleed.

ODE