FAIR daughter once of Windsor's woods,
In safety o'er the rolling floods
Britannia's boast and darling care,
Big with the fate of Europe, bear!
May winds propitious on his way
The minister of peace convey,
Nor rebel wave nor rising storm
Great George's liquid realms deform.
Our vows are heard; thy crowded sails
Already swell with western gales,
Already Albion's coast retires,
And Calais multiplies her spires.
At length has royal Orleans prest
With open arms the well-known guest,
Before in sacred friendship join'd,
And now in counsels for mankind.
Whilst his clear schemes our patriot shows,
And plans the threaten'd world's repose;
They fix each haughty monarch's doom,
And bless whole ages yet to come.
Henceforth, great Brunswick shall decree
What flag must awe the Tyrrhene sea,
For whom the Tuscan grape shall glow,
And fruitful Arethusa flow.
See in firm leagues with Thames combine
The Seine, the Maese, and distant Rhine;
Nor, Ebro! let thy single rage
With half the warring world engage:
Oh! call to mind thy thousands slain,
And Almanara's fatal plain,
While yet the Gallic terrors sleep,
Nor Britain thunders from the deep.
THOU dome! where Edward first enroll'd
His red-cross Knights and Barons bold,
Whose vacant seats, by virtue bought,
Ambitious emperors have sought,
Where Britain's foremost names are found,
In peace belov'd, in war renown'd,
Who made the hostile nations moan,
Or brought a blessing on their own;
Once more a son of Spencer waits,
A name familiar to thy gates,
Sprung from the chief whose prowess gain'd
The Garter, while thy founder reign'd;
He offer'd here his dinted shield,
The dread of Gauls in Cressy's field,
Which, in thy high-arch'd temple rais'd,
For four long centuries hath blaz❜d.
These seats our sires, a hardy kind!
To the fierce sons of War confin'd,
The flower of chivalry! who drew
With sinew'd arm the stubborn yew,
Or with heav'd pole-axe clear'd the field,
Or who in justs and tourneys skill'd,
Before their ladies' eyes renown'd
Threw horse and horsemen to the ground.
In after times, as courts refin'd,
Our patriots in the list were join'd;
Not only Warwick stain'd with blood,
Or Marlborough near the Danube's flood,
Have in their crimson Crosses glow'd,
But on just lawgivers bestow'd;
These emblems Cecil did invest,
And gleam'd on wise Godolphin's breast.
So Greece, ere arts began to rise,
Fix'd huge Orion in the skies;
And stern Alcides, fam'd in wars,
Bespangled with a thousand stars :
Till letter'd Athens round the pole
Made gentler constellations roll,
In the blue heavens the lyre she strung,
And near the Maid the Balance* hung.
* Names of constellations.
Then, Spencer! mount amid the band
Where knights and kings promiscuous stand.
What though the hero's flame represt
Burns calmly in thy generous breast;
Yet who more dauntless to oppose
In doubtful days our home-bred foes?
Who rais'd his country's wealth so high,
Or view'd with less desiring eye?
The sage who large of soul surveys
The globe, and all its empires weighs,
Watchful the various climes to guide
Which seas, and tongues, and faiths divide,
A nobler name in Windsor's shrine
Shall leave, if right the Muse divine,
Than sprung of old, abhorr'd and vain,
From ravag'd realms and myriads slain.
Why praise we, prodigal of fame,
The rage that sets the world on flame?
My guiltless Muse his brow shall bind
Whose godlike bounty spares mankind :
For those whom bloody garlands crown
The brass may breathe, the marble frown:
To him, through every rescued land,
Ten thousand living trophies stand.
THE FOURTH BOOK OF LUCAN.
Cæsar having resolved to give battle to Petreius and Afranius, Pompey's Lieutenants in Spain, encamped near the enemy in the same field. The behaviour of their soldiers, at their seeing and knowing one another, is the subject of the following verses.
THEIR ancient friends, as now they nearer drew,
Prepar'd for fight the wondering soldiers knew;
Brother with brother in unnatural strife,
And the son arm'd against the father's life.
Curs'd Civil war! then conscience first was felt,
And the tough veteran's heart began to melt.
Fix'd in dumb sorrow all at once they stand,
Then wave, a pledge of peace, the guiltless hand;
To vent ten thousand struggling passions move,
The stings of nature, and the pangs of love.
All order broken, wide their arms they throw,
And run with transport to the longing foe.
Here the long-lost acquaintance neighbours claim;
There an old friend recals his comrade's name;
Youths who in arts beneath one tutor grew,
Rome rent in twain, and kindred hosts they view.
VOL. XVII.
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