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Unnerv'd her force, her spirit vanquish'd quite,
With rapid wing her riches fled away,
Her unfrequented ports alone the sign

Of what she was, her merchants scatter'd wide,
Her hollow shops shut up, and in her streets,
Her fields, woods, markets, villages, and roads,
The cheerful voice of Labour heard no more.
Oh! let not, then, waste Luxury impair
That manly soul of toil which strings your nerves,
And your own proper happiness creates !
Oh! lot not the soft penetrating plague

Creep on the free-born mind, and, working there,
With the sharp tooth of many a new-form'd want,
Endless and idle all, eat out the heart

Of Liberty, the high conception blast,
The noble sentiment, th' impationt scorn
Of base subjection, and the swelling wish
For general good erasing from the mind;
While nought save narrow selfishness succeeds,
And low design, the sneaking passion, all
Let loose, and reigning in the rankled breast,
Induc'd at last, by scarce perceiv'd degrees,
Sapping the very frame of government
And life a total dissolution comes;
Sloth, ignorance, dejection, flattery, fear,
Oppression raging o'er the waste he makes,
The human being almost quite extinct,
And the whole state in broad corruption sinks.
Oh! shun that gulf; that gaping ruin shun!
And countless ages roll it far away

From you, ye heaven-belov'd! May Liberty,

The light of life! the sun of human-kind!
Whence heroes, bards, and patriots, borrow flame,
Even where the keen depressive North descends,
Still spread, exalt, and actuate, his powers!
While slavish southern climates beam in vain.
And may a public spirit from the Throne,
Where every virtue sits, go copious forth,
Live o'er the land, the finer arts inspire,
Make thoughtful Science raise his pensive head,
Blow the fresh bay, bid Industry rejoice,
And the rough sons of lowest Labour smile;
As when, profuse of Spring, the loosen'd West
Lifts up the pining year, and balmy breathes
Youth, light, and love, and beauty, o'er the world.
But haste we from these melancholy shores;
Nor to deaf winds and waves our fruitless plaint
Pour weak. The country claims our active aid.
That let us roam, and where we find a spark
Of public virtue, blow it into flame.

Lo! now my sons, the sons of Freedom! meet
In awful senate: thither let us fly,

Burn in the patriot's thought, flow from his tongue
In fearless truth, myself, transform'd, preside,
And shed the spirit of Britannia round.

This said, her fleeting form and airy train
Sunk in the gale, and nought but ragged rocks
Rush'd on the eye, and nought was heard
But the rough cadence of the dashing wave.

THE CASTLE OF INDOLENCE.

THE

CASTLE OF INDOLENCE.

CANTO I.

The Castle high of indolence,
And its false luxury,

Where, for a little time, alas!
We lived right jollily.

1

1. O MORTAL man! who livest here by toil,
Do not complain of this thy hard estate;
That like an emmet thou must ever moil,
Is a sad sentence of an ancient date:
And, certes, there is for it reason great;
For though sometimes it makes thee weep and wail
And curse thy star, and early drudge, and late,
Withouten that would come a heavier bale,
Loose life, unruly passions, and diseases pale.
2. In lowly dale, fast by a river's side,
With woody hill o'er hill encompass'd round,
A most enchanting wizard did abide,

Than whom a fiend more fell is no where found,
It was, I ween, a lovely spot of ground;
And there a season atween June and May,
Half prankt with Spring, with Summer half em-
brown'd,

A listless climate made, where, sooth to say,
No living wight could work, ne cared even for play.
3. Was nought around but images of rest,
Sleep-soothing groves, and quiet lawns between,
And flowery beds that slumb'rous influence kest
From poppies breath'd, and beds of pleasant green,
Where never yet was creeping creature seen.

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