Who, fond of lawless rule, and proudly brave,
Firft funk the filial fubject to a slave;
His neighbour's realms by frauds un-kingly gain'd,
In guiltless blood the facred ermine stain❜d;
Laid schemes for death, to flaughter turn'd his heart,
And fitted murder to the rules of art?
Ah! curs'd ambition, to thy lures we owe
All the great ills that mortals bear below.
Curs'd by the hind, when to the spoil he yields
His year's whole fweat and vainly ripen'd fields;
Curs'd by the maid, torn from her lover's fide,
When left a widow, though not yet a bride;
By mothers curs'd, when floods of tears they fhed,
And scatter useless rofes on the dead.
Oh facred BRISTOL! then what dangers prove
The arts, thou fmil'ft on with paternal love?
Then, mix'd with rubbish by the brutal foes,
In vain the marble breathes, the canvas glows;
To fhades obfcure the glitt'ring fword pursues
The gentle Poet and defenceless Muse.
A voice, like thine alone, might then affuage
The warrior's fury, and controul his rage;
To hear thee speak might the fierce Vandal stand,
And fling the brandifh'd fabre from his hand.
Far hence be driv'n to Scythia's ftormy fhore
The drum's harfh mufic, and the cannon's roar;
Let grim Bellona haunt the lawless plain,
Where Tartar-clans and grifly Coffacs reign;
Let the fteel'd Turk be deaf to matrons' cries,
See virgins ravifh'd with relentless eyes ;
To death grey heads and smiling infants doom,
Nor spare the promise of the pregnant womb;
O'er wafted kingdoms fpread his wide command,
The favage lord of an unpeopled land.
Her guiltless glory juft Britannia draws
From pure religion, and impartial laws:
To Europe's wounds a mother's aid fhe brings,
And holds in equal fcales the rival kings:
Her gen'rous fons in choiceft gifts abound,
Alike in arms, alike in arts renown'd.
As when sweet Venus, (so the fable fings)
Awak'd by Nereids, from the Ocean fprings;
With smiles fhe fees the threat'ning billows rife,
Spreads smooth the furge, and clears the louring skies;
Light, o'er the deep, with flutt'ring Cupids crown'd,
The pearly couch and filver turtles bound;
Her treffes fhed ambrofial odours round.
Amidft the world of waves fo ftands ferene
Britannia's isle, the Ocean's stately queen;
In vain the nations have confpir'd her fall,
Her trench the fea, and fleets her floating wall;
Defenceless barks, her powerful navy near,
Have only waves and hurricanes to fear.
What bold invader, or what land opprefs'd,
Hath not her anger quell'd, her aid redress'd?
Say, where have e'er her union-croffes fail'd,
But much her arms, her justice more prevail'd?
Her labours are to plead th' Almighty's caufe,
Her pride to teach th' untam'd barbarian laws:
Who conquers, wins by brutal strength the prize;
But 'tis a god-like work to civilize,
Have we forgot, how from great Ruffia's throne
The king, whose pow'r half Europe's regions own,
Whose scepter waving, with one fhout rush forth
In fwarms the harness'd millions of the north;
Through realms of ice purfu'd his tedious way,
To court our friendship, and our fame survey!
Hence the rich prize of useful arts he bore,
And round his empire spread the learned store,
(T' adorn old realms is more than new to raise,
His country's parent is a monarch's praise.)
His bands now march in just array to war,
And Cafpian gulphs unufual navies bear;
With Runic lays Smolensko's forefts ring,
And wond'ring Volga hears the Mufes fing
Did not the painted kings of India greet
Our Queen, and lay their scepters at her feet?
Chiefs who full bowls of hoftile blood had quaff'd,
Fam'd for the javelin, and invenom'd shaft;
Whose haughty brows made favages adore,
Nor bow'd to lefs than stars, or fun before:
Her pitying smile accepts their fuppliant claim,
And adds four monarchs to the Christian name.
Bleft ufe of pow'r! O virtuous pride in kings!
And like his bounty, whence dominion springs!
Which o'er new worlds makes heaven's indulgence shine,
And ranges myriads under laws divine!
Well bought with all that those sweet regions hold,
With groves of fpices, and with mines of gold.
Fearless our merchant now pursues his gain,
And roams fecurely o'er the boundless main.
Now o'er his head the polar bear he spies,
And freezing fpangles of the Lapland skies ;
Now fwells his canvas to the fultry line,
With glitt'ring spoils where Indian grottoes shine;
Where fumes of incenfe glad the fouthern feas,
And wafted citron fcents the balmy breeze.
Here nearer funs prepare the rip'ning gem,
To grace great ANNE's imperial diadem ;
And here the ore, whofe melted mafs fhall yield
On faithful coins each memorable field;
Which, mix'd with medals of immortal Rome,
May clear difputes, and teach the times to come.
In circling beams fhall godlike ANNA glow,
And Churchill's fword hang o'er the proftrate foe;
In comely wounds fhall bleeding worthies ftand,
Webb's firm platoon, and Lumly's faithful band!
Bold Mordaunt in Iberian trophies dress'd,
And Campbell's dragon on his dauntless breaft;
Great Ormond's deeds on Vigo's spoils enroll'd,
And Guifcard's knife on Harley's Chili gold.
And if the Mufe, O BRISTOL, might decree,
Here Granville noted by the lyre should be,
The lyre for Granville, and the cross for thee.
Such are the honours grateful Britain pays,
So patriots merit, and fo monarchs praise.
O'er diftant times fuch records fhall prevail,
When English numbers, antiquated, fail:
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