Immortal Crew commands to sing,
And gives the pipe to breathe, the string to speak.
Most pious patron, most triumphant theme!
From whose auspicious hand
On Isis' towers new beauties beam,
New praise her Nursing-Fathers gain;
Immortal Crew!
Even now fired Fancy sees thee lead
To Fame's high-seated fane
The shouting band!
O'er every hallow'd head
Fame's choicest wreaths she sees thee spread; Alfred superior smiles the solemn scene to view;
And bids the goddess lift
Her loudest trumpet to proclaim,
O Crew, thy consecrated gift,
And echo with his own in social strains thy name.
ODE ON HIS MAJESTY'S BIRTHDAY,
AMID the thunder of the war,
True glory guides no echoing car;
Nor bids the sword her bays bequeath,
Nor stains with blood her brightest wreath;
No plumed hosts her tranquil triumphs own;
Nor spoils of murder'd multitudes she brings,
To swell the state of her distinguish'd kings,
And deck her chosen throne.
On that fair throne, to Britain dear,
With the flowering olive twined
High she hangs the hero's spear,
And there with all the palms of peace combined,
Her unpolluted hands the milder trophy rear.
To kings like these, her genuine theme,
The Muse a blameless homage pays ;
To George of kings like these supreme
She wishes honour'd length of days,
Nor prostitutes the tribute of her lays.
"Tis his to bid neglected genius glow,
And teach the regal bounty how to flow.
His tutelary sceptre's sway
The vindicated arts obey,
And hail their patron king;
'Tis his to judgment's steady line
Their flights fantastic to confine,
And yet expand their wing;
The fleeting forms of fashion to restrain,
And bind capricious Taste in Truth's eternal chain.
Sculpture, licentious now no more,
From Greece her great example takes,
With Nature's warmth the marble wakes,
And spurns the toys of modern lore:
In native beauty simply plann'd,
Corinth, thy tufted shafts ascend;
The Graces guide the painter's hand,
His magic mimicry to blend.
While such the gifts his reign bestows,
Amid the proud display,
Those gems around the throne he throws,
That shed a softer ray :
While from the summits of sublime renown
He wafts his favour's universal gale,
With those sweet flowers he binds a crown,
That bloom in Virtue's humble vale:
With rich munificence the nuptial tie
Unbroken he combines,
Conspicuous in a nation's eye
The sacred pattern shines.
Fair Science to reform, reward, and raise,
To spread the lustre of domestic praise,
To softer Emulation's holy flame,
To build Society's majestic frame,
Mankind to polish, and to teach,
Be this the monarch's aim ;
Above Ambition's giant reach
The monarch's meed to claim.
ODE FOR THE NEW YEAR, 1786.
"DEAR to Jove, a genial isle
Crowns the broad Atlantic wave;
The seasons there in mild assemblage smile,
And vernal blossoms clothe the fruitful prime :
There, in many a fragrant cave,
Dwell the Spirits of the brave,
And braid with amaranth their brows sublime."
So feign'd the Grecian bards, of yore;
And veil'd in Fable's fancy-woven vest
That faintly gleam'd on their prophetic eye
Through the dark volume of futurity :
Nor knew that in the bright attire they drest
Albion, the green-hair'd heroine of the West;
Ere yet she claim'd old Ocean's high command,
And snatch'd the trident from the Tyrant's hand.
Vainly flow'd the mystic rhyme?
Mark the deeds from age to age,
That fill her trophy-pictured page;
And see, with all its strength, untamed by time,
Still glows her valour's veteran rage.
O'er Calpe's cliffs,1 and steepy towers,
When stream'd the red sulphureous showers,
And Death's own hand the dread artillery threw ;
While far along the midnight main
Its glaring arch the flaming volley drew ;
'Calpe's cliffs:' Gibraltar.
How triumph'd Elliot's patient train, Baffling their vain confederate foes! And met th' unwonted fight's terrific form; And hurling back the burning war, arose Superior to the fiery storm!
Is there an ocean that forgets to roll
Beneath the torpid pole,
Nor to the brooding tempest heaves?
Her hardy keel the stubborn billow cleaves,
The rugged Neptune of the wintry brine
In vain his adamantine breastplate wears:
To search coy Nature's guarded mine,
She bursts the barriers of th' indignant ice;
O'er sunless bays the beam of Science bears:
And rousing far around the polar sleep,
Where Drake's bold ensigns fear'd to sweep,
She sees new nations flock to some fell sacrifice.
She speeds, at George's sage command,
Society from deep to deep,
And zone to zone she binds;
From shore to shore, o'er every land,
The golden chain of commerce winds.
Meantime her patriot-cares explore
Her own rich woof's exhaustless store;
Her native fleece new fervour feels,
And wakens all its whirling wheels,
And mocks the rainbow's radiant dye;
More wide the labours of the loom she spreads,
In firmer bands domestic Commerce weds,
And calls her sister-isle to share the tie :
Nor heeds the violence that broke
From filial realms her old parental yoke!
|