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The Contents.

THE Ode consists of a Prelude; five Strains; a Moral; a Close; and a Chorus.

PRELUDE.

The Proposition. An address to the Vessel that brought over the King. Who should sing on this occasion, Pindarick boast.

Strain I. How the King attended. A prospect of happiness. Industry. A surprising instance of it in Old Rome. The mischief of sloth. What happiness is. Sloth its greatest enemy. Trade natural to Britain. Trade invoked. Described. What thegreatest human excellence. The praise of wealth. Its use, abuse, end. The variety of Nature. The final moral cause of it. The benefit of man's necessities. Britain's naval stores. She makes all nature serviceable to her end. Of Reason. Its excellence. How we should form our estimate of things. Reason's difficult task. Why the first glory her's. Her effects in Old Britain. Strain II. Arts from commerce. Why Britain should pursue it. What wealth includes. An historical digression, which kind is most frequent in Pindar. The wealth and wonderful glory of Tyre. The approach of her ruin. The cause of it. Her crimes through all ranks and orders. Her miserable fail. The neighbouring king's just reflection on it. An awful image of the Divine power and vengeance. From what Tyre fell, and how deep her calamity.

Strain III. An inference from this history. Advice to Britain. More proper in her than other nations. How far the stroke of tyranny reaches. What supports our endeavours. The unconsidered benefits of liberty. Britain's obligation to pursue trade. Why above half the globe is sea. Britain's grandeur from her situation. The winds, the seas, the constellations described. Sir Isaac Newton's praise. Britain compared with other states. The leviathan described. Britain's site

Who rivals her. Of

and ancient title to the seas.
Venice. Holland. Some despise trade as mean; cen-
sured for it. Trade's glory. The late Czar. Solomon.
A surprising instance of magnificence. The mer-
chant's dignity. Compared with men of letters.
Strain IV. Pindar invoked. His praise. Britain should
decline war, but boldly assert her trade. Encouraged
from the throne. Britain's condition without trade.
Trade's character, and surprising deeds. Carthage.
Solomon's temple. St. Paul's church. The miser's
character. The wonderful effects of trade. Why re-
ligion recommended to the merchant. What false joy.
What true. What religion is to the Merchant. Why
trade more glorious in Britons than others. How
warmly and how long to be pursued by us. The Bri-
ton's legacy. Columbus. His praise. America de-
scribed. Worlds still unknown. Queen Elizabeth.
King George II.; his glory navally represented.
Strain V. What is the bound of Britain's power. Be-
yond that of the most famed in history. The sign
Lyra. What the constellations are. Argo. The
Whale. The Dolphin. Eridanus. The Lion. Libra.
Virgo. Berenice. The British ladies censured. The
Moon. What the sea is. Apostrophe to the Em-
peror. The Spanish Armada. How Britain should
speak her resentment. What gives power. What
natives do in war. The Tartar. Mogul. Africa. China,
Who master of the world. What the history of the
world is. The genealogy of glory. Mistakes about it.
Peace the Merchant's harvest. Ships of divine origin.
Merchants ambassadors. The Briton's voyage. Praise
the food of glory. Britain's record.

THE MORAL.

The most happy should be the most virtuous. Ofeter-
nity. What Britain's art should be. Whence slavery.

THE CLOSE.

This subject now first sung. How sung. Preferable to
Pindar's subject. How Britain should be sung by all.

CHORUS,

THE MERCHANT.

AN ODE

On the British trade and navigation.

TO HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF CHANDOS.

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FAST by the surge my limbs are spread,
The naval oak nods o'er my head,

The winds are loud, the waves tumult'ous roll;
Ye winds! indulge your rage no more;
Ye sounding billows cease to roar:

The god descends, and transports warm my soul.

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The waves are hush'd, the winds are spent ;
This kingdom, from the kingdoms rent,
I celebrate in song. Fam'd Isle! no less,
By Nature's favour, from mankind,
Than by the foaming sea disjoin'd;
Alone in bliss! an isle in happiness!

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111.

Tho' Fate and Time have damp'd my strains,
Tho' youth no longer fires my veins,

Tho' slow their streams in this cold climate run,
The royal eye dispels my cares,

Recalls the warmth of blooming years;
Returning George supplies the distant sun.

IV.

Away, my Soul! salute the Pine,
That glads the heart of Caroline,
Its grand deposit faithful to restore;
Salute the bark that ne'er should hold
So rich a freight in gems or gold,

And loaded from both Indies would be poor.

V.

My Soul! to thee she spreads her sails;
Their bosoms fill with sacred gales;
With inspiration from the Godhead warm;
Now bound for an eternal clime,

O send her down the tide of time,

Snatch'd from oblivion, and secure from storm.

VI.

Or teach this flag like that to soar,

Which gods of old and heroes bore;
Bid her a British constellation rise-----
The sea she scorns; and now shall bound
On lofty billows of sweet sound:

I am her pilot, and her port the skies!

The vessel in which the King came over.

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Vit.

Dare you to sing, ye twinkling Train!
Silence, ye Wretched! ye Profane!

Who shackle prose, and boast of absent gods;
Who murder thought, and numbers maim,
Who write Pindaricks cold and lame,
And labour stiff Anacreontic odes.

VIII.

Ye lawful sons of Genius, rise!

Of genuine title to the skies;

Ye founts of Learning! and ye mints of Fame!
You who file off the mortal part

Of glowing thought with Attic art,

And drink pure song from Cam's or Isis' stream.

IX.

I glow, I burn! the numbers pure,
High-flavour'd, delicate, mature,

Spontaneous stream from my unlabour'd breast;

As when full-ripen'd teems the vine,
The gen'rous bursts of willing wine

Distil nectareous from the grape unpress'd,

STRAIN I.

I.

"OUR monarch comes! nor comes alone!"
What shining forms surround his throne,
O sun! as planets thee. To my loud strain
See Peace, by Wisdom led, advance;
The Grace, the Muse, the Season, dance!
And Plenty spreads behind her flowing train!

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