XL.

OCCASIONED BY THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO.

(The last six lines intended for an Inscription.)

FEBRUARY, 1816.

STREPID Sons of Albion! not by you

fe despised; ah no, the spacious earth N'er aw a race who held, by right of birth, many objects to which love is due:

Ye slight not life-to God and Nature true;
But death, becoming death, is dearer far,
Wen duty bids you bleed in open war:

Herse hath your prowess quelled that impious crew.
Heroes! for instant sacrifice prepared,

Ye filled with ardour, and on triumph bent
Mid direst shocks of mortal accident,

T you who fell, and you whom slaughter spared,
Tguard the fallen, and consummate the event,
Your Country rears this sacred Monument!

XLI.

FEBRUARY, 1816.

fra kindling touch of that pure flame
Woch taught the offering of song to rise
From thy lone bower, beneath Italian skies,
Great FILICAIA! With celestial aim
Free-thy saintly rapture to proclaim,
Turn, when the imperial City stood released

Frm bondage threatened by the embattled East,
And Christendom respired; from guilt and shame
Redeemned, from miserable fear set free

By one day's feat, one mighty victory.
-Chant the Deliverer's praise in every tongue!
The cross shall spread, the crescent hath waxed dim,
He conquering, as in Earth and Heaven was sung,
ir CONQUERING THROUGH GOD, AND GOD BY HIM.*

XLII.

OCCASIONED BY THE SAME BATTLE.
FEBRUARY, 1816.

Bard, whose soul is meek as dawning day,
Yet trained to judgments righteously severe;
Fervid, yet conversant with holy fear,
A recognising one Almighty sway:

*Ond è ch' to grido e griderò: giugnesti,
Guerregisti, e vincesti;

Si., vincest a Campion forte e pio,
Per Dio vincesti, e per te vinse Iddio.

Jee Firan's Carzone, addressed to John Sobieski, king of Pood non his rusing the siege of Vienna. This, and his other en the same occasion, are superior perhaps to any lyrical homes list contemporary events have ever given birth to, those of the Hebrew Scriptures alone excepted.

City, and naval stream, suburban grove,

And stately forest where the wild deer rove;
Nor wanted lurking hamlet, dusky towns,
And scattered rural farms of aspect bright;

And, here and there, between the pastoral downs,
The azure sea upswelled upon the sight.
Fair prospect, such as Britain only shows!
But not a living creature could be seen
Through its wide circuit, that, in deep repose,
And, even to sadness, lonely and serene,
Lay hushed-till through a portal in the sky
Brighter than brightest loop-hole in a storm,
Opening before the sun's triumphant eye,
Issued, to sudden view, a glorious Form!
Earthward it glided with a swift descent:
Saint George himself this Visitant may be;
And, ere a thought could ask on what intent
He sought the regions of humanity,
A thrilling voice was heard, that vivified
City and field and flood; -aloud it cried

While from the crowd bursts forth a rapturous noise
By the cloud-capt hills retorted—
And a throng of rosy boys

In loose fashion tell their joys,

And gray-haired Sires, on staffs supported,
Look round-and by their smiling seem to say,
Thus strives a grateful Country to display
The mighty debt which nothing can repay!

3.

Anon before my sight a palace rose
Built of all precious substances, - -so pure
And exquisite, that sleep alone bestows
Ability like splendour to endure:
Entered, with streaming thousands, through the gate
I saw the banquet spread beneath a Dome of state,
A lofty Dome, that dared to emulate
The Heaven of sable night

With starry lustre; and had power to throw
Solemn effulgence, clear as solar light,
Upon a princely Company below,

While the Vault rang with choral harmony,
Like some Nymph-haunted Grot beneath the roaring se
-No sooner ceased that peal, than on the verge
Of exultation hung a dirge,

Breathed from a soft and lonely instrument,
That kindled recollections

Of agonised affections;

And, though some tears the strain attended,
The mournful passion ended

In peace of spirit, and sublime content!

4.

But garlands wither, -festal shows depart Like dreams themselves; and sweetest sound, Albeit of effect profound,

It was and it is gone! Victorious England! bid the silent Art Reflect, in glowing hues that shall not fade, These high achievements, even as she arrayed With second life the deed of Marathon,

Upon Athenian walls:

So may she labour for thy civic halls;
And be the guardian spaces
Of consecrated places,

As nobly graced by Sculpture's patient toil;
And let imperishable structures grow
Fixed in the depths of this courageous soil;
Expressive signals of a glorious strife,
And competent to shed a spark divine
Into the torpid breast of daily life;
Records on which the morning sun may shine,
As changeful ages flow,

With gratulation thoroughly benign!

5.

And ye, Pierian Sisters, sprung from Jove And sage Mnemosyne, - full long debarred

on your first mansions, -exiled all too long Frany a hallowed stream and grove, war tative regions where ye wont to rove, Tag for patriot heroes the reward

Of never-dying song!

w/r, though Truth descending from above The Olympian summit hath destroyed for aye Yer Lndred Deities, ye live and move, Auc erercise unblamed a generous sway)

, on the margin of some spotless fountain, 19 serene of unmolested mountain,

andibly the noblest of your lyres, And for a moment meet my soul's desires!

I, or some more favoured Bard, may hear We, celestial Maids! have often sung

Brtain's acts, may catch it with rapt ear, And give the treasure to our British tongue! Shall the characters of that proud page So their mighty theme from age to age; A, the desert places of the earth,

W they to future empires have given birth, & ai the people gather and believe The old report transferred to every clime;

Lax the whole world, not envious but admiring, And to the like aspiring,

w that the progeny of this fair Isle

power as lofty actions to achieve

ls were performed in Man's heroic prime; Ar wanted, when their fortitude had held la even tenour, and the foe was quelled, Aponding virtue to beguile

te purpose of wide-wasting Time; alot in vain they laboured to secure, In their great deeds, perpetual memory, a fame as largely spread as land and sea, 3. wirk of spirit high and passion pure!

XLV.

THANKSGIVING ODE.

JANUARY 18, 1816.

ADVERTISEMENT.

WHOLLY unworthy of touching upon the momentous there treated would that Poet be, before whose the present distresses under which this kingdom could interpose a veil sufficiently thick to hide, en to obscure, the splendour of this great moral If the author has given way to exultation, tabacked by these distresses, it might be sufficient to ham from a charge of insensibility, should he own belief that the sufferings will be transitry. On the wisdom of a very large majority of the Brak antion rested that generosity which poured out rasures of this country for the deliverance of

:

Europe and in the same national wisdom, presiding in time of peace over an energy not inferior to that which has been displayed in war, they confide, who encourage a firm hope, that the cup of our wealth will be gradually replenished. There will, doubtless, be no few ready to indulge in regrets and repinings; and to feed a morbid satisfaction, by aggravating these burthens in imagination, in order that calamity so confidently prophesied, as it has not taken the shape which their sagacity allotted to it, may appear as grievous as possible under another. But the body of the nation will not quarrel with the gain, because it might have been purchased at a less price: and, acknowledging in these sufferings, which they feel to have been in a great degree unavoidable, a consecration of their noble efforts, they will vigorously apply themselves to remedy the evil.

Nor is it at the expense of rational patriotism, or in disregard of sound philosophy, that the author hath given vent to feelings tending to encourage a martial spirit in the bosoms of his countrymen, at a time when there is a general outcry against the prevalence of these dispositions. The British army, both by its skill and valour in the field, and by the discipline which has rendered it much less formidable than the armies of other powers to the inhabitants of the several countries where its operations were carried on, has performed services that will not allow the language of gratitude and admiration to be suppressed or restrained (whatever be the temper of the public mind) through a scrupulous dread lest the tribute due to the past should prove an injurious incentive for the future. Every man deserving the name of Briton adds his voice to the chorus which extols the exploits of his countrymen, with a consciousness, at times overpowering the effort, that they transcend all praise. But this particular sentiment, thus irresistibly excited, is not sufficient. The nation would err grievously, if she suffered the abuse which other states have made of military power, to prevent her from perceiving that no people ever was, or can be, independent, free, or secure, much less great, in any sane application of the word, without martial propensities and an assiduous cultivation of military virtues. Nor let it be overlooked, that the benefits derivable from these sources are placed within the reach of Great Britain, under conditions peculiarly favourable. The same insular position which, by rendering territorial incorporation impossible, utterly precludes the desire of conquest under the most seductive shape it can assume, enables her to rely, for her defence against foreign foes, chiefly upon a species of armed force from which her own liberties have nothing to fear. Such are the privileges of her situation; and, by permitting, they invite her to give way to the courageous instincts of human nature, and to strengthen and to refine them by culture. But some have more than insinuated that a design exists to subvert the civil character of the English people by unconstitutional ap

dreadful the dominion of the impure!
uld the song be tardy to proclaim

se than power unbounded could not tame at soul of Evil—which, from Hell let loose, ated the astonished world with such abuse acess patience only could endure? dested regions-cities wrapped in flame wes, and feels, may lift a streaming eye Hare—who never saw, may heave a sigh; fentation of our nature shakes, with an infinite pain the spirit aches, No deviated countries, towns on fire, Are but the avowed attire irfare waged with desperate mind the life of virtue in mankind; Assaulting without ruth The citadels of truth;

That bade him hope, and to his hope cleave fast!
The Nations strove with puissance; at length
Wide Europe heaved, impatient to be cast,
With all her living strength,
With all her armed Powers,
Upon the offensive shores.

The trumpet blew a universal blast!
But Thou art foremost in the field: - there stand:
Receive the triumph destined to thy Hand!
All States have glorified themselves; - their claims
Are weighed by Providence, in balance even;
And now, in preference to the mightiest names,
To Thee the exterminating sword is given.
Dread mark of approbation, justly gained!
Exalted office, worthily sustained!

9.

Imagination, ne'er before content,

But aye ascending, restless in her pride,

"A discipline the rule whereof is passion."-LORD BROOK