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1470

In whom the fplendor of heroic war,
And more heroic peace, when govern'd well
Combine; whofe hallow'd name the virtues faint,
And bis own Muses love; the best of Kings !
With him thy Edwards and thy Henrys thine,
Names dear to fame; the first who deep imprefs'd
On haughty Gaul the terror of thy arms,
That awes her genius ftill. In Statesmen thou,
And patriots, fertile. Thine a fteady More,
Who, with a generous tho' mistaken zeal,
Withstood a brutal tyrant's ufeful rage,
Like Cato firm, like Ariftides juft,
Like rigid Cincinnatus nobly poor,

A dauntless foul erect, who fmil'd on death.
Frugal and wife, a Walfingham is thine;

1476

1480

A Drake, who made the miftrefs of the deep, 1485
And bore thy name in thunder round the world.
Then flam'd thy fpirit high: but who can speak
The numerous worthies of the Maiden Reign?
In Raleigh mark their every glory mix'd;
Raleigh, the fcourge of Spain! whofe breaft with all
The fage, the patriot, and the hero burn'd.
Nor funk his vigour, when a coward-reign
The warrior fettered, and at laft refign'd,
To glut the vengeance of a vanquish'd foe.
Then, active ftill and unreftrain'd, his mind 1495
Explor'd the vaft extent of ages paft,

And with his prifon-hours enrich'd the world;
Yet found no times in all the long research,

Se glorious, or fo base, as those he prov'd,

1491

In which he conquer'd, and in which he bled. 1500
Nor can the Mufe the gallant Sidney pass,
The plume of war! with early laurels crown'd,
The Lover's myrtle, and the Poet's bay.
A Hampden too is thine, illuftrious land,

Wife, ftrenuous, firm, of unfubmitting foul, 1505
Who ftem'd the torrent of a downward age
To flavery prone, and bade thee rise again,
In all thy native pomp of freedom bold.
Bright, at his call, thy Age of Men effulg'd,
Of Men on whom late time a kindling eye 1510
Shall turn, and tyrants tremble while they read.

1515

Bring every fweeteft flower, and let me ftrew
The grave where Ruffel lies; whofe temper'd blood,
With calmeft chearful efs for thee refign'd,
Stain'd the fad annals of a giddy reign;
Aiming at lawless power, tho' meanly funk
In loofe inglorious luxury. With him
His friend, the British Caffius, fearless bled;
Of high determin'd fpirit, roughly brave,
By ancient learning to th' enlighten'd love

1520

Of ancient freedom warm'd. Fair thy renown
In awful Sages and in noble Bards;

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Soon as the light of dawning Science fpread
Her orient ray, and wak'd the Mufe's fong.
Thine is a Bacon, hapless in his choice
Unfit to ftand the civil ftorm of state,
And thro' the fmooth barbarity of courts,
With firm but pliant virtue, forward ftill

1525

To urge his courfe. Him from the ftudious fhade Kind Nature form'd, deep, comprehenfive, clear, Exact, and elegant; in one rich foul,

Plato, the Stagyrite, and Tully join'd.

1538

1535

The great deliverer he! who from the gloom
Of cloifter'd monks, and jargon teaching schools,
Led forth the true philofophy, there long
Held in the magic chain of words and forms,
And definitions void: he led her forth,
Daughter of Heav'n! that flow afcending ftill,
Investigating fure the chain of things,

With radiant finger points to Heaven again. 1540
The generous † Afhley thine, the friend of Man;
Who fkann'd his Nature with a brother's eye,
His weakness prompt to fhade, to raise his aim,
To touch the finer movements of the mind,
And with the moral beauty charm the heart.
Why need I name thy Boyle, whofe pious fearch
Amid the dark receffes of his works,
The great Creator fought? And why thy Locke,
Who made the whole internal world his own?
Let Newton, pure Intelligence, whom Go

* Algernon Sidney.

↑ Anthony Afbley Cooper, Earl of Shastsbury.

1545

1550

To

74

To mortals lent, to trace his boundless works
From laws fublimely fimple, fpeak thy fame
In all Philofophy. For lofty fenfe,
Creative fancy, and inspection keen

Thro' the dark windings of the human heart, 1555
Is not wild Shakespear thine and Nature's boaft?
Is not each great, each amiable Mufe

Of claffic ages in thy Milton met!
A genius univerfal as his theme ;
Astonishing as Chaos, as the bloom

1560

1565

Of blowing Eden fair, as Heaven fublime.
Nor fhall my verfe that elder bard forget,
The gentle Spencer, Fancy's pleafing fon;
Who like a copious river, pour'd his fong
O'er all the mazes of enchanted ground:
Nor thee, his ancient Master, laughing fage,
Chaucer, whofe native manners-painting verfe,
Well-moralized, fhines thro' the Gothic cloud
Of time and language o'er thy genius thrown.
May my fong foften, as thy Daughters 1, 1570
Britannia, hail! for beauty is their own,
The feeling heart, fimplicity of life,

1576

And elegance, and tafte: the faultlefs form,
Shap'd by the hand of harmony; the cheek,
Where the live crimson, thro' the native white
Soft-shooting, o'er the face diffuses bloom
And every nameless grace; the parted lip,
Like the red rofe-bud moift with morning dew,
Breathing delight; and, underflowing jet,
Or funny ringlets, or of circling brown,

1580

The neck flight-fhaded, and the swelling breast;
The look refiftlefs, piercing to the foul,
And by the foul inform'd, when drest in love
She

e fits high-fmiling in the confcious eye.
Ifland of blifs! amid the fubject feas,
That thunder round thy rocky coasts, set up,
At once the wonder, terror, and delight,
Of difant nations; whofe remoteft fhores
Can foon be fhaken by thy naval arm;
Not to be fhook thyfelf, but all affaults
Baffling, as the hoar cliffs the loud fea-wave.
O Thou! by whose almighty Nod the scale

-1585

1590

Of

Of empire rifes, or alternate falls,
Send forth the faving virtues round the land,
In bright patrol: white Peace, and focial Love ;
The tender-looking Charity, intent

1596 On gentle deeds, and thedding tears thro' fmiles; Undaunted Truth, and Dignity of mind;

Courage compos'd, and keen; found Temperance,
Healthful in heart and look; clear Chastity, 1600
With blushes reddening as the moves along,
Disordered at the deep regard the draws;
Rough Industry; Activity untir'd,

1605

With copious life inform'd, and all awake:
While in the radiant front, fuperior fhines
That firft paternal virtue, Publie Zealz
Who throws o'er all an equal wide furvey,
And, ever mufing on the common weal,
Still labours glorious with fome great defign. 160g
Low walks the fun, and broadens by degrees,
Juft o'er the verge of day. The thifting clouds
Affembled gay, a richly gorgeous train,
In all their pomp attend his fetting throne.
Air, earth and ocean fmile immenfe. And now,
As if his weary chariot fought the bowers
Of Amphitrite, and her tenymphs,
(So Grecian fable fung) he dips his orb;
Now half-immers'd; and now a golden curve
Gives one bright glance, then total disappears.

1615

1620

For ever running an enchanted round,
Paffes the day, deceitful, vain, and void;
As fleets the vifion o'er the formful brain,
This moment hurrying wild th' impaffioned foul,
The next in nothing loft. 'Tis fo to him,
The dreamer of this earth, an idle blank:
A fight of horror to the cruel wretch,
Who all day long in fordid pleasure roll'd,
Himfelf an ufelefs load, has fquander'd vile,

1625

Upon his fcoundrel train, what might have cheer'd
A drooping family of modeft worth.

But to the generous ftill-improving mind,
That gives the hopeless heart to fing for joy,
Diffufing kind benificence around,

Boattlefs, as now defcends the filent dew;

1630

To him the long review of order'd life

Is inward rapture, only to be felt.

Confefs'd from yonder flow extinguish'd clouds,
All ether foftening, fober Evening takes

Her wonted ftation in the middle air;,

1635

1640

A thousand fhadows at her beck. First this
She fends on earth: then that of deeper dye
Steals foft behind; and then a deeper still,
In circle following circle, gathers round,
To close the face of things. A frether gale
Begins to wave the wood, and ftir the ftream, 1645
Sweeping with fhadowy guft the fields of corn;
While the quail clamours for his running mate.
Wide o'er the thiftly lawn, as fwells the breeze,
A whitening fhower of vegetable down
Amufive floats. The kind impartial care
Of nature nought difdains: thoughtful to feed
Her lowest fons, and clothe the coming year,
From field to field the feather'd feed the wings.

1650

1660

His folded flock fecure, the thepherd home Hies, merry-hearted; and by turns relieves 1655 The ruddy milk-maid of her brimming pail; The beauty whom perhaps his witlefs heart, Unknowing what the joy-mixt anguish means, Sincerely loves, by that beft language fhewn Of cordial glances, and obliging deeds. Onward they pass, o'er many a panting height, And valley funk, and unfrequented; where At fall of eve the fairy people throng, In various game and revelry to pafs The fummer-night, as village flories tell. But far about they wander from the grave Of him, whom his ungentle fortune urg'd Against his own fad breast to lift the hand Of impious violence. The lonely tower

1665

1669

Is alfo fhunn'd; whofe mournful chambers hold,
So night-ftruck fancy dreams, the yelling ghoft.

Among the crooked lanes, on every hedge,
The glow-worm lights his gem; and, thro' the dark,
A moving radiance twinkles. Evening yields
The world to Night; not in her winter rebe
Of madly Stygian woof, but loofe array'd-

1675

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