Guards well what Arts and Industry have won, 280 285 290 Place me where Winter breathes his keenest air, 295 And I will sing, at Liberty's dear feet, In Afric's torrid clime, or India's fiercest heat. A. Sing where you please, in such a cause I grant An English poet's privilege to rant, But is not Freedom, at least, is not ours, 300 Too apt to play the wanton with her powers, Grow freakish, and, o'erleaping every mound, Spread anarchy and terror all around? B. Agreed. But would you sell or slay your horse For bounding and curvetting in his course; 305 Or if, when ridden with a careless rein, He break away, and seek the distant plain? No. His high mettle, under good control, Gives him Olympic speed, and shoots him to the goal. Let Discipline employ her wholesome arts; 310 Let Magistrates alert perform their parts, Not skulk, or put on a prudential mask, Let active Laws apply the needful curb, To guard the Peace that Riot would disturb; 315 And Liberty, preserved from wild excess, When Tumult lately burst his prison door, 320 And dared to look his master in the face; When the rude rabble's watchword was -'Destroy!' 325 Worse than the deeds of galley-slaves broke loose. And fierce Licentiousness should bear the blame. 330 Cheap, though blood-bought, and thrown away when sold; May no foes ravish thee, and no false friend Betray thee, while professing to defend; A. Patriots, alas! the few that have been found, 335 340 Liberty taught him her Athenian strain, Spoke from his lips, and in his looks gave law. 345 Would strive to make a Paul or Tully stand. 350 Felt himself crushed at the first word he spoke. 355 He speaks, and they appear; to him they owe So Gideon earned a victory not his own, Poor England! thou art a devoted deer, 360 The nations hunt, all mark thee for a prey, They swarm around thee, and thou stand'st at bay, 365 Undaunted still, though wearied and perplexed. Once Chatham saved thee, but who saves thee next? 'Tis not the wreath that once adorned thy brow, 370 Confessed a God; they kneeled before they fought, 375 Courage, ungraced by these, affronts the skies, Is but the fire without the sacrifice. The stream that feeds the wellspring of the heart 380 Not more invigorates life's noblest part, The powers that Sin has brought to a decline. 385 And Victory refuted all he said. B. And yet his judgment was not framed amiss; 390 Its error, if it erred, was merely this— He thought the dying hour already come, And a complete recovery struck him dumb. But that effeminacy, folly, lust, Is truth, if history itself be true. There is a time, and Justice marks the date, 395 400 405 410 Can call her smiling down, and fix her here. But when a country (one that I could name) In prostitution sinks the sense of shame; 415 When infamous Venality, grown bold, Writes on his bosom, 'To be let or sold;' 420 When Avarice starves, and never hides his face, Two or three millions of the human race, And not a tongue inquires how, where, or when, Though conscience will have twinges now and then; 425 In all its parts, times, ministry, and laws, Bespeaks a land, once Christian, fallen and lost, In all that wars against that title most; 430 Nineveh, Babylon, and ancient Rome, 'Stop, while ye may; suspend your mad career; 435 440 To throw his dark displeasure o'er the scene. 445 Are but his rods to scourge a guilty land, 450 And waste it at the bidding of his hand. He gives the word, and Mutiny soon roars The standards of all nations are unfurled; She has one foe, and that one foe, the world. 455 And if He doom that people with a frown, And mark them with a seal of wrath pressed down, Obduracy takes place; callous and tough, The reprobated race grows judgment-proof: Earth shakes beneath them, and Heaven roars above, 460 But nothing scares them from the course they love; To the lascivious pipe and wanton song, That charm down fear, they frolic it along, With mad rapidity and unconcern, Down to the gulf from which is no return. 465 |