While proud oppreffion in her valleys reigns,
And tyranny ufurps her happy plains?
The poor inhabitant beholds in vain
The redd'ning orange and the fwelling grain: Joylefs he fees the growing oils and wines, And in the myrtle's fragrant fhade repines; Starves, in the midst of nature's bounty curst, And in the loaden vineyard dies of thirst.
IN vengeance rous'd, the foldier fills his hand
With fword and fire, and ravages the land,
A thousand villages to afhes turns,
In crackling flames a thoufand harvests burns.
To the thick woods the woolly flocks retreat,
And mix'd with bellowing herds confus'dly bleat;
Their trembling lords the common fhade partake,
And cries of infants found in ev'ry brake;
The lift'ning foldier fix'd in forrow ftands,
Loth to obey his leader's ftern commands;
The leader grieves, by gen'rous pity sway'd,
To fee his ftern commands fo well obey'd.
... No foreft fell,
Imperial mistress of the fur-clad Rufs,
When thou wouldst build-no quarry fent its ftores
T'enrich thy walls: but thou didst hew the floods,
And make thy marble of the glaffy wave.
Silently as a dream the fabric rofe;
No found of hammer or of saw was there:
Ice upon ice, the well adjusted parts
Were foon conjoin'd; nor other cement ask'd,
Than water interfus'd to make them one.
Lamps gracefully difpos'd, and of all hues,
Illumin❜d ev'ry fide: a watry light
Gleam'd thro' the clear transparency, that seem'd
Another moon new-rifen, or meteor fall'n
From heaven to earth, of harmless flame ferene.
So ftood the brittle prodigy; tho' smooth
And flipp'ry the materials, yet froft-bound
Firm as a rock. Nor wanted aught within
That royal refidence might well befit,
For grandeur or for ufe. Long wavy wreaths
Of flowers, that fear'd no enemy but warmth, Blufh'd on the pannels. Mirror needed none Where all was glaffy; but in order due Convivial table and commodious feat
(What feem'd at least commodious feat) were there; Sofa, and couch, and high built throne auguft, The fame lubricity was found in all,
And all was moist to the warm touch; a scene Of evanefcent glory, once a ftream,
And foon to flide into a stream again.
O LIBERTY, thou goddess heav'nly bright,
Profuse of bliss and pregnant with delight!
Eternal pleasures in thy prefence reign,
And smiling plenty leads thy wanton train;
Eas'd of her load, fubjection grows more light,
And poverty looks cheerful at thy fight;
Thou mak'it the gloomy face of nature gay,
Giv't beauty to the fun, and pleasure to the day.
On foreign mountains may the fun refine
The grape's foft juice, and mellow it to wine;
With citron groves adorn a distant soil,
And the fat olive fwell with floods of oil:
We envy not the warmer clime that lies
In ten degrees of more indulgent skies :
'Tis Liberty that crowns Britannia's ifle,
And makes her barren rocks and her bleak mountains fmile.
BEYOND or love's or friendship's facred band,
Beyond myself, I prize my native land:
On this foundation would I build my fame,
And emulate the Greek and Roman name;
Think England's peace bought cheaply with my blood,
And die with pleafure for my country's good.
While ftorms and tempefts thunder on its brows, And ocean breaks its billows at its feet,
It stands unmov'd, and glories in its height. Such is that haughty man: his tow'ring foul," 'Midst all the shocks and injuries of Fortune, Rifes fuperior, and looks down on Cæfar.
E'EN when proud Cæfar, 'midft triumphal cars,
The fpoils of nations and the pomp of wars,
Ignobly vain, and impotently great,
Show'd Rome her Cato's figure drawn in state;
As her dead father's rev'rend image pafs'd,
The pomp was darken'd, and the day o'ercast..
The triumph ceas'd-tears gufi'd from ev'ry eye,
The world's great victor pass'd unheeded by ;
Her laft good man dejected Rome ador'd,
And honour'd Cæfar's lefs than Cato's fword.
NOR Fame I flight, nor for her favours call;
She comes unlook'd for, if fhe comes at all.
But if the purchase cofts fo dear a price
As foothing folly, or exalting vice;
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