LXXI. Her thus immers d in anxious thought profound; O deareft drad! he cried, fair ifland queen! * Mother of heroes! empress of the main ! What means that ftormy brow of troublous teen ? With wealth and knowledge, fplendour and renown? Each port how throng'd! how fruitful every plain! How blithe the country! and how gay the town! While Liberty fecures and heightens every boon!. LXXIII. Awaken'd from her trance of penfive woe By thefe fair flattering words, fhe rais'd her head; And bending on the KNIGHT her frowning brow, Mock'it thou my forrows, Fairy Son? she said. • Sith, fince. Or Or is thy judgment by thy heart misled To deem that certain, which thy hopes fuggeft? Whofe cheeks in Hebe's vivid tints are dreft, And with Joy's careless mien, and dimpled fmiles impreft? LXXIV. Thy unfufpecting heart how nobly good I know, how fanguine in thy country's cause! How vaft his influence! how wide his fway! And faw'ft, as through his realms thou took'st thy way, And can't thou then, O Fairy's Son, demand The throbbings of my heart with speeches bland, And words more apt my forrows to increase, The once-dear names of Wealth, and Liberty, and Peace? P Lufiibead, ftrong health, vigour. LXXVI. Peace, LXXVI. Peace, Wealth, and Liberty, that nobleft boon, To weak and vicious minds their worth unknown The fymptoms of a foul, difeafed and bloated state. Ev'n Wit and Genius, with their learned train And ftand my fons herein from cenfure clear? As As well to prove, as to reward the good? The fell leviathan licentious plays, And upon fhip-wreck'd faith, and finking virtue preys? LXXIX. To you, ye Noble, Opulent and Great! The health and fickness of the common-weal; And Justice drench in vain her vengeful sword in blood. With You must reformation firft take place: You are the head, the intellectual mind Of this vast body politick; whose base, And vulgar limbs, to drudgery confign'd, All the rich ftores of Science have refign'd To You, that by the craftsman's various toil, The fea-worn mariner, and fweating hind, In peace and affluence maintain'd, the while You, for yourselves and them, may drefs the mental foil. LXXXI. Be LXXXI. Bethink you then, my children, of the truft In you repos'd: ne let your heav'n-born mind Confume in pleasure, or unactive ruft; But nobly roufe you to the task affign'd, The godlike task to teach and mend mankind : Example is a leffon, that all men can read. But if (to All or Moft I do not speak) In vain and fenfual habits now grown old, The ftrong Circaan charm you cannot break, Nor re-affume at will your native 9 mould, Yet envy not the ftate, you could not hold ; And take compaffion on the rifing age: In them redeem your errours manifold; And, by due difcipline and nurture fage, In Virtue's lore betimes your docile fons engage. LXXXIII. You chiefly, who like me in fecret mourn The prevalence of CUSTOM lewd and vain; 9 Mould, shape, form. |