ODE TO MY COUNTRY. MDCCXCVIII. S. 1. BRITONS! hands and hearts prepare ; The angry tempest threatens nigh, Deep-toned thunders roll in air, Lightnings thwart the livid sky; Throned upon the winged storm, Fell DESOLATION rears her ghastly form, Waves her black signal to her hell-born brood, And lures them thus with promised blood: A. 1. "Drive, my Sons, the storm amain! 66 Lo, the hated, envied Land, "Where PIETY and ORDER reign, "And FREEDOM dares maintain her stand! "Have ye not sworn, by night and hell, "These from the earth for ever to expel? "Rush on, resistless, to your destined prey, "Death and Rapine point the way." E. 1. Britons! stand firm! with stout and dauntless heart Meet, unappall'd, the threatening boaster's rage; Yours is the great, the unconquerable part For loved hearths and altars to engage, your And sacred LIBERTY, more dear than life Yours be the triumph in the glorious strife. Shall Theft and Murder braver deeds excite Than honest scorn of shame, and heavenly love of right? S. 2. Turn the bright historic page! Still in Glory's tented field Albion's arms for many an age Have taught proud Gallia's Bands to yield. Are not WE the Sons of those Whose steel-clad Sires pursued the insulting foes E'en to the centre of their wide domain, And bow'd them to a Briton's reign ?* A. 2. Kings in modest triumph led, Graced the SABLE VICTOR's arms:† His conquering lance, the battle's dread ;- Henry VI. crowned at Paris. +The Black Prince. The lion-heart soft pity knows, To raise, with soothing cares, his prostrate foes The vanquish'd head true Valour ne'er oppress'd, Nor shunn'd to succour the distress'd. High thoughts, high deeds, worthy our ancient fame; Breathe through our ardent ranks the patriot fire, Kindled at Freedom's ever hallow'd flame! Baffled and scorn'd, the Iberian Tyrant found, Though half a world his iron sceptre bound, The gallant Amazon could sweep away, Arm'd with her people's love, the " Invincible” array.* S. 3. The Bold Usurper† firmly held The sword, by splendid treasons gain'd; And Gallia's fiery genius quell'd, And Spain's presumptuous claims restrain'd: When lust of sway, by flattery fed,‡ To venturous deeds the youthful Monarch led, Britain check'd his power and pride. *The Spanish Armada. + Oliver Cromwell. + Louis XIV. Ceaseless hymns of triumph raise! Scourge of tyrants, let his fame Live in songs of grateful praise. Thy turrets, Blenheim, † glittering to the sun, And E. 3. ye famed Heroes, late retired to Heaven, Whose setting glories still the skies illume, Bend from the blissful seats to virtue given— Avert your long-defended Country's doom. Earth, from her utmost bounds, shall wondering tell How Victory's meed ye gain'd, or conquering fell; Britain's dread thunders bore from pole to pole, Wherever man is found, or refluent oceans roll. S. 4. Names embalm'd in Honour's shrine, Sacred to immortal praise, Patterns of Glory, born to shine, In breathing arts, or pictured lays: * William III. + Blenheim, Ramilies, &c. &c. See Wolfe, by yielding numbers press'd, A. 4. O! tread with awe the sacred gloom, Joys their merit to repeat: There Chatham lies, whose master-hand Guided through seven bright years the mighty Band, That round his urn, where grateful Memory weeps, E. 4. Her brand accursed when Civil Discord hurl'd,* Britain alone the united world withstood, Rodney his fortune-favour'd sails unfurl'd, And led three Nations' Chiefs to Thames's flood. Firm on his Rock the Veteran Hero stands; Beneath his feet unheeded thunders roar; Smiling in scorn, he sees the glittering Bands Fly, with repulse and shame, old Calpe's hopeless shore. * American War. + Lord Heathfield. |