Widens the fatal web-its lines extend,
And deadliest poisons in the chalice blend:
When will your trials teach you to be wise,
O prostrate lands !-consult your agonies!
No more the guilt is banished,
And with the guilt the shame is fled, And with the guilt and shame the woe hath vanished, Shaking the dust and ashes from her head! -No more these lingerings of distress Sully the limpid stream of thankfulness. What robe can Gratitude employ
So seemly as the radiant vest of Joy?
What steps so suitable as those that move
In prompt obedience to spontaneous measures
Of glory, and felicity, and love,
Surrendering the whole heart to sacred pleasures?
Land of our fathers! precious unto me
Since the first joys of thinking infancy;
When of thy gallant chivalry I read,
And hugged the volume on my sleepless bed!
O England! dearer far than life is dear,
If I forget thy prowess, never more
Be thy ungrateful son allowed to hear
Thy green leaves rustle, or thy torrents roar.
But how can he be faithless to the past
Whose soul, intolerant of base decline,
Saw in thy virtue a celestial sign,
That bade him hope, and to his hope cleave fast!
The nations strove with puissance; at length
Wide Europe heaved, impatient to be cast
With all her living strength,
With all her armed powers
Upon the offensive shores.
The trumpet blew a universal blast!
But thou art foremost in the field; there stand-
Receive the triumph destined to thy hand!
All states have glorified themselves; their claims
Are weighed by Providence in balance even;
And now, in preference to the mightiest names,
To thee the exterminating sword is given.
Dread mark of approbation, justly gained!
Exalted office, worthily sustained!
Imagination ne'er before content,
But aye ascending, restless in her pride;
From all that man's performance could present
Stoops to that closing deed magnificent,
And with the embrace is satisfied.
Fly, ministers of Fame,
Whate'er your means, whatever help ye claim,
Bear through the world these tidings of delight!
Hours, days, and months have borne them on the sight
Of mortals, travelling faster than the shower
That landward stretches from the sea,
The morning's splendour to devour;
But their appearance scattered ecstasy--
And heart-sick Europe blessed the healing power
"The shock is given, the adversaries bleed—
Lo, justice triumphs! Earth is freed!"
Such glad assurance suddenly went forth-
It pierced the caverns of the sluggish North;
It found no barrier on the ridge
Of Andes; frozen gulfs became its bridge;
The vast Pacific gladdens with the freight;
Upon the lakes of Asia 'tis bestowed;
The Arabian desert shapes a willing road
Across her burning breast,
For the refreshing incense from the West!
Where snakes and lions breed,
Where towns and cities thick as stars appear,
Wherever fruits are gathered, or where'er
The upturned soil receives the hopeful seed-
While the sun rules, and 'cross the shades of night
The unwearied arrow hath pursued its flight.
The eyes of good men thankfully give heed,
And in its sparkling progress read
How virtue triumphs, from her bondage freed!
Tyrants exult to hear of kingdoms won,
And slaves are pleased to learn that mighty feats are
Even the proud realm, from whose distracted borders
The messenger of good was launched in air,
France, conquered France-amid her wild disorders
Feels, and hereafter shall the truth declare,
That she too lacks not reason to rejoice,
And utter England's name with sadly plaintive voice.
Preserve, O Lord! within our hearts
The memory of thy favour,
That else insensibly departs,
And loses its sweet savour.
Lodge it within us! As the power of light
Lives inexhaustibly in precious gems,
Fixed on the front of Eastern diadems,
So shines our thankfulness for ever bright!
What offering, what transcendent monument,
Shall our sincerity to thee present?
-Not work of hands, but trophies that may reach
To highest Heaven-the labours of the soul;
That builds, as thy unerring precepts teach,
Upon the inward victories of each,
Her hope of lasting glory for the whole.
Yet, might it well become that city now,
Into whose breast the tides of grandeur flow,
To whom all persecuted men retreat;
If a new temple lift its votive brow
Upon the shores of silver Thames-to greet
The peaceful guest advancing from afar!
Bright to the distant fabric, as a star
Fresh risen-and beautiful within!-there meet
Dependence infinite, proportions just;
A pile that grace approves, and time can trust.
But if the valiant of the land,
In reverential modesty, demand
That all observance, due to them, be paid
Where their severe progenitors are laid;
Kings, warriors, high-souled poets, saint-like sages,
England's illustrious sons of long, long ages;
Be it not unordained that solemn rites
Within the circuit of those Gothic walls,
Shall be performed at pregnant intervals;
Commemoration holy, that unites
The living generation with the dead;
By the deep soul-moving sense
Of religious eloquence,-
By visual pomp, and by the tie
Of sweet and threatening harmony;
Soft notes, awful as the omen,
Of destructive tempests coming
And escaping from that sadness
Into elevated gladness;
While the white-robed choir attendant,
Under mould'ring banners pendent,
Provoke all sympathies to raise
Songs of victory and praise
For them who bravely stood unhurt-or bled
With medicable wounds-or found their graves
Upon the battle-field, or under ocean's waves;
Or were conducted home in single state
And long procession, there to lie,
Where their son's sons, and all posterity,
Unheard by them, their deeds shall celebrate!
Nor will the God of peace and love
Such martial service disapprove.
He guides the pestilence the cloud
Of locusts travels on his breath;
The region that in hope was ploughed
His drought consumes, his mildew taints with
death;
He springs the hushed volcano's mine;
He puts the earthquake on her still design;
Darkens the sun; hath bade the forest sink,
And, drinking towns and cities, still can drink
Cities and towns. 'Tis thou-the work is thine:
The fierce tornado sleeps within thy courts-
He hears the word-he flies-
And navies perish in their ports;
For thou art angry with thine enemies!
For these, and for our errors,
And sins that paint their terrors,
We bow our heads before thee; and we laud
And magnify thy name, Almighty God!
But thy most dreaded instrument,
In working out a pure intent,
Is man-arrayed for mutual slaughter;
Yea, Carnage is thy daughter;
Thou cloth'st the wicked in their dazzling mail,
And by thy just permission they prevail;
Thine arm from peril guards the coasts
Of them who in thy law delight:
Thy presence turns the scale of doubtful fight,
Tremendous God of battles, Lord of hosts!
On this appointed day shall thanks ascend,
That thou hast brought our warfare to an end;
And that we need no further victory!
For a brief moment terrible.
But to thy sovereign penetration fair;
Before whom all things are, that were,
All judgments that have been, or e'er shall be,
Links in the chain of thy tranquillity!
Along the bosom of this favoured nation,
Breathe thou, this day, a vital undulation!
Let all who do this land inherit
Be conscious of thy moving spirit!
Oh, 'tis a goodly ordinance! the sight,
Though sprung from bleeding war, is one of pure delight;
Bless thou the hour, or ere the hour arrive,
When a whole people shall kneel down in prayer,
And, at one moment, in one spirit, strive
With lip and heart to tell their gratitude
For thy protecting care,
Their solemn joy-praising the eternal Lord
For tyranny subdued,
And for the sway of equity renewed,
For liberty confirmed, and peace restored!
But hark, the summons! Down the placid lake
Floats the soft cadence of the church-tower bells,
Bright shines the sun, as if his beams might wake
The tender insects sleeping in their cells;
Bright shines the sun-and not a breeze to shake
The drops that point the melting icicles.
O, enter now his Temple Gate!"
Inviting words-perchance already flung
(As the crowd press devoutly down the aisle
Of some old minster's venerable pile)
From voices into zealous passion stung,
While the tubed engine feels the inspiring blast,
And has begun its clouds of sound to cast
Towards the empyreal heaven,
As if the fretted roof were riven.
Us humbler ceremonies now await;
But in the bosom with devout respect,
The banner of our joy we will erect,
And strength of love our souls shall elevate:
For, to a few collected in his name,
The heavenly father will incline his ear,
Hallowing himself the service which they frame.
Awake! the majesty of God revere!
Go,-and with foreheads meekly bowed,
Present your prayer: go,-and rejoice aloud-
The Holy One will hear!
And what 'mid silence deep, with faith sincere,
Ye, in your low and undisturbed estate,
Shall simply feel, and purely meditate
Of warnings-from the unprecedented might,
Which, in our time, the impious have disclosed;
And of more arduous duties thence imposed
Upon the future advocates of right;
Of mysteries revealed,
And judgments unrepealed,-
Of earthly revolution,
And final retribution,—
To his Omniscience will appear
As offering not unworthy to find place
On this high Day of Thanks, before the throne of grace.
COMPOSED IN JANUARY 1816.
WHEN the soft hand of sleep had closed the latch
Of the tired household of corporeal sense,
And Fancy, in her airy bower, kept watch,
Free to exert some kindly influence;
I saw-but little boots it that my verse
A shadowy visitation should rehearse;
For to our shores such glory hath been brought,
That dreams no brighter are than waking thought
I saw, in wondrous perspective displayed,
A landscape richer than the happiest skill
Of pencil ever clothed with light and shade ;-
An intermingled pomp of vale and hill,
Tower, town, and city, and suburban grove,
And stately forest where the wild deer rove;
And, in a clouded quarter of the sky,
Through such a portal as with cheerful eye
The traveller greets in time of threatened storm,
Issued, to sudden view, a radiant form!
Earthward it glided with a swift descent;
Saint George himself this visitant may be ;
And ere a thought could ask in what intent
He sought the regions of humanity,
A thrilling voice was heard, that vivified
My patriotic heart; aloud it cried :
I, the guardian of this land,
Speak not now of toilsome duty
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