Stourus, whose stream, prolific as it glides,
Two fertile counties in its course divides,
And rolls to feaward with a lover's pace :

There beauteous Orwell meets his fond embrace; 25
They mix their amorous streams, the briny tide
Receives them join'd; their crooked fhores provide
A fpacious bay within, for anchor'd ships to ride.
Here, on the margin of the rolling flood,
Divinely fair, like fea-born Venus, ftood
Britannia's genius, in a robe array'd

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35

}

Of broider'd arms, and heraldry display'd:
A crown of cities charg'd her graceful brows;
In waving curls her hair luxuriant flows;
Celestial glories in her eyes are seen ;
Her ftature tall, majestic is her mien.
With fuch a prefence, through th' adoring skies
Shines the great parent of the deities ;
Such towery honours on her temples rife,
When, drawn by lions, the proceeds in state;
Trains of attendant-gods around her chariot wait;
The mother-goddess, with superior grace,
Surveys, and numbers o'er her bright immortal race.
While thus the lovely Genius hovers o'er
The water's brink, and from the fandy shore
Beholds th' alternate billows fall and rife

40

45

(By turns they fink below, by turns they mount the fkies) :

"And muft, fhe faid

"Then paus'd, and drew a sigh of anxious love;

"Muft my dear lord this faithlefs ocean prove ; 50

"Efcap'd

"Efcap'd the chance of war, and fraud of foes, "Wilt thou to warring waves thy facred life expofe; "Why am I thus divided by the fea,

"From all the world, and all the world in thee? "Could fighs and tears the rage of tempefts bind, 59 “With tears I'd bribe the seas, with fighs the wind : Soft-fighing gales thy canvas should inspire ;

"But hence, ye boisterous ftorms! far hence retire "To inland woods; there your mad powers appease, "And scour the dufty plains, or ftrip the foreft trees; 60 "Or lodg'd in hollow rocks profoundly fleep, "And reft from the loud labours of the deep! "Why should I fear?. -If heroes be the care

70

"Of heaven above, and heaven inclines to prayer, "Thou fail'ft fecure; my fons with lifted eyes, 65 "And pious vows, for thee have gain'd the skies. "Come then, my much-lov'd lord! No more th'alarms "Of wasteful war require thee from my arms. "Thy fword gives plenteous peace; but without thee, "Peace has no charms, and plenty 's poverty: "At length enjoy, for whom you've fought, the queen "Of islands, bright, majestic, and ferene! "Unveil'd from clouds, which did her form disguise, "And hid a thoufand beauties from thy eyes. "A thousand treasures unfurvey'd invite "Their lord to various fcenes of new delight. "Come fee the dower I brought! My fpacious downs, "My numerous counties, and my ancient towns; "Landskips of rifing mountains, fhaggy woods, "Green vallies, smiling meadows, filver floods,

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80

"And

"And plains with lowing herds enrich'd around, "The hills with flocks, the flocks with fleeces crown'd. "All these with native wealth thy power maintain, "And bloom with bleffings of thy easy reign. "Hafte, hoift thy fails! and through the foamy "brine,

"Rush to my arms! henceforth be wholly mine; "After nine toil fome years, let flaughter ceafe, "And flourish now fecure, in the foft arts of peace!" She faid; th' intreated winds her accents bore, And wing'd the meffage to the Belgic shore. The pious hero heard, nor could delay

To meet the lovely voice, that fummon'd him away; The lovely voice, whofe foft-complaining charms Before had call'd the fuccour of his arms,

90

Nor call'd in vain; when fir'd with generous rage 95
T'oppofe the fury of a barbarous age,

Like Jove with awful thunder in his hand,
Through ftorms and fleets at fea, and foes at land,
He urg'd his daring way; before his fight
On filver wings, bright Glory took her flight,
And left, to guide his course, long fhining tracks
of light!

And now once more embark'd, propitious gales
Blow fresh from fhore, and fill his hollow fails.
As when the golden god, that rules the day,
Drives down his flaming chariot to the fea,
And leaves the nations here involv'd in night,
To distant regions he tranfports his light;

105

So

So WILLIAM's rays, by turns, two nations chear;
And when he fets to them, he rifes here.

110

Forfaken Belgia, ere the ship withdrew, Shed generous tears, and breath'd this foft adieu; "Since empire calls thee, and a glorious throne, "Thy people's weighty interefts, and thy own; (Though ftruggling love would fain perfuade thy ftay)

115

"Go, where thy better fortune leads the way! "Mean while my lofs, allow me to complain, “And wish—ah no! that partial with were vain. "Though honour'd Crete had nurs'd the thundering "God,

"Crete was not always bleft with his abode;

"Nor was it fit, that WILLIAM's godlike mind, 110 "For nations born, fhould be to One confin'd. "This only grant, fince I must afk no more, "Revisit once again your native shore ! "That hope my forrows fhall beguile; and thou, "My happy rival! wilt that hope allow; “'Tis all th' enjoyment, fate has left me now. "So may't thou, fair Britannia! ever be "Firm to thy fovereign's love, and his to thee! "While widow'd I"There rifing fighs reprefs'd Her fainting voice, and ftifled-in the reft. 130

Now, while the bounding vessel drives before The gufty gales, and leaves the leffening fhore, Behold the parting clouds to distance fly,

125

And golden glories, pouring from on high
New drefs the day, and chear th' enlighten'd sky ! 135

One

One fhooting beam, like lightning doubly bright,
Darts on the middle main its streaming light.
Lo! WILLIAM's guardian angel there defcends;
To Neptune's court his heavenly meffage tends:
In arms celestial, how he shines afar,

Like Pallas marching to th' awaken'd war!
His left hand gripes a spacious orb of fhield,
With thousand intercepted dangers fill'd,
And deaths of various kind; his right difplays

140

A temper'd blade, that spreads a formidable blaze. 145
He ftrikes the waves; th' obfequious waves obey,
And, opening in a gulph, disclose the downward way.
O Mufe! by thee conducted down, I dare
The fecrets of the watery world declare ;

For nothing fcapes thy view; to thee 'tis given, 150
To range the space of earth, and feas, and heaven,
Defcry a thousand forms, conceal'd from fight,
And in immortal verfe to give the vifions light.

A rock there lies, in depth of fea profound;
About its clefts, rich beds of pearl abound,
Where Sportful nature, covering her retreat
With flowing waters, holds her fecret feat:
In woods of coral, intricate the ftrays,

And wreathes the fhells of fish a thousand ways,
And animates the spawn of all her finny race. 160
Th' unnumber'd species of the fertile tide,
In fhoals, around their mighty mother, glide.
From out the rock's wide cavern's deep below,
The rushing ocean rifes to its flow ;

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And,