Dar'd to suppose the subject had a choice,
He was a traitor by the general voice.
Oh, slave ! with powers thou didst not dare exert,
Verse cannot stoop so low as thy desert;
It shakes the sides of splenetic disdain,
Thou self-entitled ruler of the main,
To trace thee to the date when yon fair sea,
That clips thy shores, had no such charms for thee;
When other nations few from coast to coast,
And thou hadst neither fleet nor flag to boast.

Kneel now, and lay thy forehead in the dust; Blush, if thou canst; not petrified, thou must ; Act but an honest and a faithful part ; Compare what then thou wast with what thou art ; And, God's disposing providence confessid, Obduracy itself must yield the rest.Then thou art bound to serve him, and to prove, Hour after hour, thy gratitude and love.

Has he not hid thee, and thy favour'd land, For ages safe beneath his sheltering hand, Given thee his blessing on the clearest proof, Bid nations leagu'd against thee stand aloof, And charg'd hostility and hate to roar Where else they would, but not upon thy shore ? His power secur'd thee when presumptuous Spain Baptiz'd her fleet invincible in vain. Her gloomy monarch, doubtful and resign'd To every pang that racks an anxious mind, Ask'd of the waves that broke upon his coast, What tidings ? and the surge replied-All lost !

And when the Stuart, leaning on the Scot,
Then too much fear'd, and now too much forgot,
Pierc'd to the very centre of the realm,
And hop'd to seize his abdicated helm,
'Twas but to prove how quickly, with a frown,
He that had rais'd thee could have pluck'd thee dowit.
Peculiar is the grace by thee possessid,
Thy foes implacable, thy land at rest ;
Thy thunders travel over earth arú seas
And all at home is pleasure, wealth, and ease.
'Tis thus, extending his tempestuous arm,
Thy Maker fills the nations with alarm,
While his own heaven surveys the troubled scene,
And feels no change, unshaken and serene.
Freedom, in other lands scarce known to shine,
Pours out a flood of splendour upon thine ;
Thou hast as bright an interest in her rays
As ever Roman had in Rome's best days.
True freedom is where no restraint is known
That scripture, justice and good sense disown,
Where only vice and injury are tied,
And all from shore to shore is free beside.
Such freedom is—and Windsor's hoary towers
Stood trembling at the boldness of thy powers,
That won a nymph on that immortal plain,
Like her the fabled Phæbus woo'd in vain :
He found the laurel only-happier you,
Th’ unfading laurel and the virgin too !*

• Alluding to the grant of Magna Charta, which was es. torted from King John by the Barons, at Runnymede, near

Now think, if pleasure have a thought to spare ; If God himself be not beneath her care ! If business, constant as the wheels of time, Can pause an hour to read a serious rhyme ; If the new mail thy merchants now receive, Or expectation of the next, give leave ; Oh think, if chargeable with deep arrears For such indulgence gilding all thy years, How much, though long neglected, shining yet, The beams of heavenly truth have swell'd the debt ! When persecuting zeal måde royal sport With tortur'd innocence in Mary's court, And Bonner, blithe as shepherd at a wake, Enjoy'd the show, and danc'd about the stake ; The sacred book, its value understood, Receiv'd the seal of martyrdom in blood. Those holy men, so full of truth and grace, Seem, to reflection, of a different race ; Meek, modest, venerable, wise, sincere, In such a cause they could not dare to fear ; They could not purchase earth with such a prize, Or spare a life too short to reach the skies. From them to thee convey'd along the tide, Their streaming hearts pour'd freely when they died; Those truths, which neither use nor years impair, Invite thee, woo thee, to the bliss they share. What dotage will not vanity maintain ? What web too weak to catch a modern brain ? The moles and bats in full assembly find, On special search, the keen ey'd eagle blind.

And did they dream, and art thou wiser now?
Prove it--if better, I submit and bow.
Wisdom and goodness are twin-born, one heart
Must hold both sisters, never seen apart.
So then-as darkness overspread the deep,
Ere nature rose from her eternal sleep,
And this delightful earth, and that fair sky,
Leap'd out of nothing, call'd by the Most High ;
By such a change thy darkness is made light,
Thy chaos order, and thy weakness might;
And he, whose power mere nullity obeys,
Who found thee nothing, form'd thee for his praise.
To praise him is to serve him, and fulfil,
Doing and suffering, his unquestion'd will;
"Tis to believe what men inspir’d of old, .
Faithful, and faithfully inform’d, unfold;
Candid and just, with no false aim in view,
To take for truth what cannot but be true ;
To learn in God's own school the Christian part,
And bind the task assign’d thee to thine heart :
Happy the man there seeking and there found,
Happy the nation where such men abound !

How shall a verse impress thee? by what name Shall I adjure thee not to court thy shame ? By theirs, whose bright example, unimpeach'd, Directs thee to that eminence they reach'd Heroes and worthies of days past, thy sires ? Or his, who touch'd their hearts with hallow'd fires ! Their names, alas ! in vain reproach an age, Whom all the vanities they scorn'd, engage;

And his, that seraphs tremble at, is hung
Disgracefully op every trifler's tongue,
Or serves the champion in forensic war
To fourish and parade with at the bar.
Pleasure herself, perhaps, suggests a plea,
If interest move thee, to persuade e'en thee,
By every charm that smiles upon her face,
By joys possess’d and joys still held in chase,
Į dear society be worth a thought,
And if the feast of freedom cloy thee not,
Reflect that these, and all that seems thine own,
Held by the tenure of his will alone,
Like angels in the service of their Lord,
Remain with thee, or leave thee at his word;
That gratitude and temperance in our use
Of what he gives, unsparing and profuse,
Secure the favour, and enhance the joy,
That thankless waste and wild abuse destroy,

But, above all, reflect-how cheap soe'er Those rights, that millions envy thee, appear, And, though resolv'd to risk them, and swim down The tide of pleasure, heedless of his frownThat blessings truly sacred, and when given Mark'd with the signature and stamp of Heaven, The word of prophecy, those truths divine, Which make that heaven, if thou desire it, thine, (Awful alternative ! believ'd, belov'd, Thy glory; and thy shame, if unimprov'd} Are never long vouchsaf'd, if push'd aside With cold disgust, or philosopłuc pride ;