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IV. 1130 The king's army.-T.

IV. 1143 Pleased to yield. By the Bill of Rights and the Act of Succession.-T.

IV. 1144 William III.-T.

PART V, line 69 that the Tyrian merchant sought of old. Tin. -T.

V. 285 The poor and weak. Lord Molesworth, in his account of Denmark, says, 'It is observed, that in limited monarchies and commonwealths, a neighbourhood to the seat of the government is advantageous to the subjects; whilst the distant provinces are less thriving, and more liable to oppression.'-T.

V. 409 The famous Retreat of the Ten Thousand was chiefly conducted by Xenophon.-T.

V. 411 Epaminondas, after having beat the Lacedemonians and their allies, in the battle of Leuctra, made an incursion at the head of a powerful army into Laconia. It was now six hundred years since the Dorians had possessed this country, and in all that time the face of an enemy had not been seen within their territories. Plutarch in Agesilaus.—T.

V. 458 Louis XIV.-T.

V. 473 the long canal. The canal of Languedoc.-T.

V. 475, 477 The Hospitals for Foundlings and Invalids.-T. V. 496 warm seminaries. The Academies of Sciences, the Belles Lettres, and Painting.-T.

V. 503 the kind art of unvalued price. Engraving.—T.

V. 518 the glowing loom. The tapestry of the Gobelins.-T. The Gobelins were originally a family of dyers, who (in the sixteenth century) added to their business as dyers the manufacture of tapestry, with which their name has ever since been associated. V. 645 The reference is to the colonization of the State of Georgia.

V. 662 A Hospital for Foundlings.-T.

V. 680 ouran-outangs. Creatures which, of all brutes, most resemble man. See Dr. Tyson's Treatise on this animal.-T.

V. 690 Richard Boyle, Earl of Burlington, architect of Chiswick House, Burlington House, &c.

V. 698 At Twickenham.

V. 699 Okely Woods, near Cirencester.-T.

LYRICAL PIECES

RULE, BRITANNIA!

[This famous ode, which appeared in the last scene (Act II, Sc. v) of Alfred: A Masque, a dramatic piece in which Mallet collaborated with Thomson, was published in 1740. It has sometimes been attributed to Mallet. The evidence is in favour of Thomson's authorship.]

WHEN Britain first, at Heaven's command,

Arose from out the azure main,

This was the charter of the land,
And guardian angels sung this strain-
'Rule, Britannia, rule the waves;
Britons never will be slaves.'

The nations, not so blest as thee,

Must in their turns to tyrants fall;
While thou shalt flourish great and free,
The dread and envy of them all.

'Rule,' &c.

Still more majestic shalt thou rise,

More dreadful from each foreign stroke;

As the loud blast that tears the skies

Serves but to root thy native oak.
'Rule,' &c.

Thee haughty tyrants ne'er shall tame;

All their attempts to bend thee down
Will but arouse thy generous flame,

But work their woe and thy renown.
'Rule,' &c.

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To thee belongs the rural reign;

Thy cities shall with commerce shine;
All thine shall be the subject main,
And every shore it circles thine.
'Rule,' &c.

The Muses, still with freedom found,
Shall to thy happy coast repair:
Blest isle with matchless beauty crowned,
And manly hearts to guard the fair.
'Rule, Britannia, rule the waves;
Britons never will be slaves.'

30

ODE

TELL me, thou soul of her I love,
Ah! tell me, whither art thou fled?
To what delightful world above,
Appointed for the happy dead?

Or dost thou free at pleasure roam,
And sometimes share thy lover's woe
Where, void of thee, his cheerless home
Can now, alas! no comfort know?

Oh! if thou hoverest round my walk,
While, under every well-known tree,

I to thy fancied shadow talk,

And every tear is full of thee—

Should then the weary eye of grief
Beside some sympathetic stream

In slumber find a short relief,
Oh, visit thou my soothing dream!
[Cp. Burns's To Mary in Heaven.]

COME, GENTLE GOD

[Published in The Gentleman's Magazine, February, 1736.]

COME, gentle god of soft desire,

Come and possess my happy breast;
Not fury-like in flames and fire,
Or frantic folly's wildness drest.

But come in friendship's angel-guise;
Yet dearer thou than friendship art,
More tender spirit in thy eyes,

More sweet emotions at the heart.

O, come with goodness in thy train,
With peace and pleasure void of storm;
And, wouldst thou me for ever gain,
Put on Amanda's winning form.

[For Amanda, see note on line 483 of Spring.]

IO

SONG

ONE day the god of fond desire,
On mischief bent, to Damon said,
'Why not disclose your tender fire?
Not own it to the lovely maid?'

The shepherd marked his treacherous art,
And, softly sighing, thus replied:
'Tis true, you have subdued my heart,
But shall not triumph o'er my pride.

'The slave in private only bears

Your bondage, who his love conceals;

But, when his passion he declares,

You drag him at your chariot-wheels.'

IC

SONG

HARD is the fate of him who loves
Yet dares not tell his trembling pain
But to the sympathetic groves,

But to the lonely listening plain.

Oh! when she blesses next your shade,
Oh! when her footsteps next are seen
In flowery tracts along the mead,

In fresher mazes o'er the green,

Ye gentle spirits of the vale,

To whom the tears of love are dear, From dying lilies waft a gale

And sigh my sorrows in her ear.

Oh! tell her what she cannot blame,
Though fear my tongue must ever bind;
Oh! tell her that my virtuous flame
Is as her spotless soul refined.

Not her own guardian angel eyes
With chaster tenderness his care;

Not purer her own wishes rise,

Not holier her own sighs in prayer.

But, if at first her virgin fear

Should start at love's suspected name, With that of friendship soothe her ear— True love and friendship are the same.

TO AMANDA

COME, dear Amanda, quit the town,
And to the rural hamlets fly;
Behold! the wintry storms are gone,
A gentle radiance glads the sky;

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