Gay sprightly land of mirth and focial ease,
Pleas'd with thyself, whom all the world can please,
How often have I led thy fportive choir,

With tuneless pipe, befide the murm'ring Loire!
Where fhading elms along the margin grew,
And, freshen'd from the wave, the zephyr flew ;
And haply, though my harsh touch falt'ring ftill,
But mock'd all tune, and marr'd the dancer's fkill,
Yet would the village praise my wond'rous pow'r,
And dance, forgetful of the noon-tide hour!
Alike all ages. Dames of ancient days

Have led their children through the mirthful maze ;
And the gay grandfire, skill'd in geftick lore,
Has frisk'd beneath the burden of threescore.

So blefs'd a life these thoughtless realms display,
Thus idly bufy rolls their world away :

Theirs are those arts that mind to mind endear,
For honour forms the focial temper here,
Honour, that praise which real merit gains,
Or e'en imaginary worth obtains,

Here paffes current; paid from hand to hand,
It shifts in fplendid traffick round the land:
From courts to camps, to cottages it ftrays,
And all are taught an avarice of praise;

They please, are pleas'd, they give to get esteem,
Till, seeming blefs'd, they grow to what they seem.
But while this fofter art their blifs fupplies,

It gives their follies alfo room to rife;

For praise too dearly lov'd, or warmly fought,
Enfeebles all internal ftrength of thought;
And the weak foul, within itself unblefs'd,
Leans for all pleasure on another's breast.
Hence oftentation here, with tawdry art,
Pants for the vulgar praise which fools impart :
Here vanity affumes her pert grimace,
And trims her robes of frize with copper lace;

Here beggar pride defrauds her daily cheer,
To boast one fplendid banquet once a year;
The mind still turns where shifting fashion draws,
Nor weighs the folid worth of felf-applause,

To men of other minds my fancy flies,

Embofom'd' in the deep where Holland lies.

Methinks her patient fons before me stand,
Where the broad ocean leans against the land;
And, fedulous to flop the coming tide,
Lift the tall rampire's artificial pride.
Onward methinks, and diligently flow,
The firm connected bulwark feems to grow;
Spreads it's long arms amidst the wat❜ry roar,
Scoops out an empire, and ufurps the fhore,
While the pent ocean rifing o'er the pile,
Sees an amphibious world beneath him fmile;
The flow canal, the yellow-bloffom'd vale,
The willow-tufted bank, the gliding fail,
The crouded mart, the cultivated plain,
A new creation, refcu'd from his reign.
Thus, while around the wave-fubjected foil
Impels the native to repeated toil,
Industrious habits in each bofom reign,
And industry begets a love of gain.

Hence all the good from opulence that fprings,
With all thofe ills fuperfluous treafure brings,

Are here display'd. Their much-lov'd wealth imparts
Convenience, plenty, elegance, and arts;

But view them clofer, craft and fraud appear,

E'en liberty itself is barter'd here.

At gold's fuperior charms all freedom flies,
The needy fell it, and the rich man buys;
A land of tyrants, and a den of flaves,
Here wretches feek difhonourable graves,
And calmly bent, to fervitude conform,
Dull as their lakes that flumber in the ftorm.

Heavens!

Heavens! how unlike their Belgick fires of old!..
Rough, poor, content, ungovernably bold;
War in each breaft, and freedom on each brow
How much unlike the fons of Britain now!
Fir'd at the found, my Genius fpreads her
Genius fpreads her wing
And flies where Britain courts the western fprings
Where lawns extend that fcorn Arcadian pride,
And brighter ftreams than fam'd Hydafpis glid
There all around the gentleft breezes ftray,
There gentle mufick melts on ev'ry fpray;
Creation's mildeft charms are there combin'd;
Extremes are only in the mafter's mind!
Stern o'er each bofom Reason holds her state,
With daring aims irregularly great;

Pride in their port, defiance in their eye, 140
I see the lords of human-kind pass by;

Intent on high defigns, a thoughtful band,
By forms unfashion'd fresh from Nature's hand;
Fierce in their native hardiness of soul,

True to imagin'd right, above controul,

While e'en the peasant boasts these rights to scan,
And learns to venerate himself as man.

Thine, Freedom, thine the bleffings pictur'd here,
Thine are those charms that dazzle and endear;
Too blefs'd indeed were fuch without alloy,
But fofter'd e'en by Freedom ills annoy ;
That independance Britons prize too high,
Keeps man from man, and breaks the focial tie;
The self-dependant lordlings ftand alone,
All claims that bind and fweeten life unknown;
Here, by the bonds of Nature feebly held,
Minds combat minds, repelling and repell'd. ¡
Ferments arife, imprifon'd factions roar,
Reprefs'd ambition ftruggles round her fhore,
Till, over-wrought, the general fyftem feels
It's motions ftop, or phrenzy fire the wheels.
3 L 2

Nor this the worst. As Nature's ties decay, As duty, love, and honour fail to fway, Fictitious bonds, the bonds of wealth and law, Still gather ftrength, and force unwilling awe. Hence all obedience bows to thefe alone,

And talent finks, and merit weeps unknown;

Till time may come, when, ftripp'd of all her charms,
The land of scholars, and the nurfe of arms,

Where noble stems tranfmit the patriot flame,
Where kings have toil'd, and poets wrote for fame,
One fink of level avarice shall lie,

And scholars, foldiers, kings, unhonour'd die.
Yet think not, thus when Freedom's ills I ftate,
I mean to flatter kings, or court the great:
Ye powers of truth, that bid my foul afpire,
Far from my bosom drive the low defire!
And thou, fair Freedom, taught alike to feel
The rabble's rage, and tyrant's angry steel;
Thou tranfitory flower, alike undone
By proud Contempt, or Favour's foft'ring fun,
Still may thy blooms the changeful clime endure,
I only would reprefs them to fecure:

For just experience tells, in ev'ry foil,

That those who think must govern thofe that toil;
And all that Freedom's highest aims can reach,
Is but to lay proportion'd loads on each.
Hence, fhould one order difproportion'd grow,
It's double weight must ruin all below.

O, then, how blind to all that truth requires,
Who think it freedom when a part aspires!
Calm is my foul, nor apt to rise in arms,
Except when faft-approaching danger warms:
But when contending chiefs blockade the throne,
Contracting regal power to stretch their own,
When I behold a factious band agree

To call it freedom when themselves are free;

Each

Each wanton judge new penal ftatutes draw,
Laws grind the poor, and rich men rule the law;
The wealth of elimes, where favage nations roam,
Pillag'd from slaves, to purchase flaves at home;
Fear, pity, justice, indignation start,
Tear off reserve, and bare my fwelling heart;
Till half a patriot, half a coward grown,
I fly from petty tyrants to the throne.

Yes, brother, curfe with me that baleful hour,
When first ambition ftruck at regal power;
And thus polluting honour in it's fource,
Gave wealth to sway the mind with double force.
Have we not seen, round Britain's peopled thore,
Her useful fons exchang'd for ufelefs ore?
Seen all her triumphs but deftruction hafte,
Like flaring tapers, bright'ning as they wafte;
Seen Opulence, her grandeur to maintain,"
Lead stern Depopulation in her train,
And over fields, where scatter'd hamlets rofe,
In barren, folitary pomp repofe?
Have we not feen, at Pleasure's lordly call,
The fmiling long-frequented village fall?
Beheld the duteous fon, the fire decay'd,
The modeft matron, and the blushing maid,
Forc'd from their homes, a melancholy train,
To traverse climes beyond the western main;
Where wild Ofwego fpreads her fwamps around,
And Niagara ftuns with thund'ring found?

E'en now, perhaps, as there fome pilgrim ftrays
Through tangled forefts, and through dang'rous ways;
Where beasts with man divided empire claim,
And the brown Indian marks with murd'rous aim
There, while above the giddy tempeft flies,
And all around distressful yells arise,
The penfive exile, bending with his woe,
To top too fearful, and too faint to go,

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