And only dares betray, With reptile wiles, alas! prevail, When force and rage and priestcraft fail, O! shall the bought and buying tribe, So Indian murderers hope to gain 'Avert it, Heaven; you love the brave, Nor shall a hireling's voice convey Vain prayer, the coward's weak resource! But ne'er shall flame the thundering sky In names there dwell no magic charms, Unloosed our fathers' band: Say, Greece and Rome, if these should fail, Far, far from us such ills shall be, One monarch truly great: Whose title speaks a people's choice, LORD NUGENT. HYMN. Ye are the salt of the earth. SALT of the earth, ye virtuous few, Who season humankind; Lights of the world, whose cheering ray Where Misery spreads her deepest shade By dying beds, in prison glooms, You wash with tears the bloody page, When vengeance threats, your prayers ascend, As down the summer stream of vice The thoughtless many glide, Upwards you steer your steady bark, And stem the rushing tide. Where Guilt her foul contagion spreads, And golden spoils allure, Unspotted still your garments shine,— Your hands are ever pure. Whene'er you touch the poet's lyre Each ardent thought is yours alone, Yours is the large expansive thought, You lift on high the warning voice, The dogs of hell your steps pursue, E'en yet the steaming scaffolds smoke By Seine's polluted stream; With your rich blood the fields are drench'd E'en now, through those accursed bars Where, deep in Olmutz' dungeon glooms, Yet yours is all, through History's rolls And at your tomb, with throbbing heart, In every faith, through every clime, And shrines are dress'd, and temples rise, And pæans loud, in every tongue, And lengthening honours hand your name Proceed! your race of glory run, You come, commission'd from on high, And your reward is sure. MRS. BARBAULD. TO MUSIC. QUEEN of every moving measure! Only for the smiling guests On those whom secret griefs devour; DR. WARTON. HYMN TO MAY. Nunc formosissimus Annus. The Argument. Virgil. Subject proposed. Invocation of May. Description of her: her operations on Nature. Bounty recommended: in particular at this season. Vernal apostrophe. Love the ruling passion in May. The celebration of Venus her birthday in this month. Rural retirement in spring. Conclusion. ETHEREAL daughter of the lusty Spring I pant, too emulous, to flow in Spenser's strain. Say, mild Aurora of the blooming year, For which the nations pine, and Earth's fair children die? Where Leda's twins*, forth from their diamond tower, Alternate, o'er the Night their beams divide; From Winter rage, thou choosest to abide. * Castor and Pollux. |