As rolling years matur'd his age, He flourish'd bold and sinewy as his sire; While the mild passions in his breast assuage The fiercer flames of his maternal sire. ANTISTROPHE. Accomplish'd thus, he wing'd his way, And warm with patriot thoughts th' aspiring soul. On desert isles 'twas he that rais'd Those spires that gild the Adriatic wave, Where Tyranny beheld amaz'd [grave. Fair Freedom's temple, where he mark'd her He steel'd the blunt Batavian's arms To burst th' Iberian's double chain; And cities rear'd, and planted farms, Won from the skirts of Neptune's wide domain He, with the generous rustics sate On Uri's rocks in close divan; And wing'd that arrow, sure as fate, Which ascertained the sacred rights of man. STROPHE. Arabia's scorching sands he cross'd, To Freedom's adamantine shrine; And many a Tartar-horde forlorn, aghast, He snatch'd from under fell Oppression's wing; And taught amidst the dreary waste Th' all-cheering hymns of Liberty to sing. VOL. III, 3* He virtue finds, like precious ore, Diffus'd through every baser mould, Ne'er paid that homage which the heart denies. ANTISTROPHE. Those sculptur'd halls my feet shall never tread, And all the flowers of spurious Fancy blow; Full often wreath'd around the miscreant's brow; Where ever-dimpling Falsehood, pert and vain, Presents her cup of stale Profession's froth; And pale Disease, with all his bloated train, Torments the sons of Gluttony and Sloth. STROPHE. In fortune's car behold that minion ride, And hireling minstrels wake the tinkling string; Her sensual snares let faithless Pleasure lay; And all her jingling bells fantastic Folly ring; Disquiet, Doubt, and Dread shall intervene ; ANTISTROPHE. Nature I'll court in her sequester'd haunts, By mountain, meadow, streamlet, grove, or cell, Where the pois'd lark his evening ditty chaunts, And Health,and Peace, and Contemplation dwell. There, Study shall with Solitude recline; And Friendship pledge me to his fellow-swains ; And Toil and Temperance sedately twine The slender cord that fluttering Life sustains; And fearless Poverty shall guard the door; And Taste unspoil'd, the frugal table spread; And Industry supply the humble store; And Sleep unbrib'd his dews refreshing shed: White-mantled Innocence, ethereal sprite, Shall chase far off the goblins of the night; And Independence o'er the day preside, Propitious power! my patron and my pride. Smollet. SOLITUDE. O SOLITUDE, romantic maid! Whether by nodding towers you tread, Or, at the purple dawn of day, Plum'd Conceit, himself surveying ; Sparks of fire Dissention blowing, Sage Reflection, bent with years; Halcyon Peace, on moss reclin'd; Health that snuffs the morning air, You, with the tragic muse retir'd, You taught the sadly-pleasing air When all Nature's hush'd asleep, Monody on the death of Lady Lyttleton, |