Know, when he bade the deep appear, "Thus far," th' Almighty faid, "Thus far, nor farther, rage; and here "Let thy proud waves be stay'd."

I heard; and lo! at once controul'd,
The waves in wild retreat
Back on themselves reluctant roll'd,
And murm'ring left my feet.

1

Deeps to affembling deeps in vain
Once more the signal gave:
The shores the rushing weight sustain,
And check th' ufurping wave.

Convinc'd, in Nature's volume wife
The imag'd truth I read;
And fudden from my waking eyes
Th' inftructive vision fled.

* Then why thus heavy, O my foul! Say why, diftruftful ftill,

Thy thoughts with vain impatience roll • O'er scenes of future ill!

D

་ ་་་ ་་

Les

Tho' griefs unnumber'd throng thee round,
• Still in thy God confide,

• Whose finger marks the feas their bound,
• And curbs the headlong tide.'

HO' grief and fondness in my breast rebel,

ΤΗ

When injur'd Thales bids the town farewel,
Yet ftill my calmer thoughts his choice commend,
I praise the hermit, but regret the friend;
Who now refolves, from vice and London far,
To breathe in distant fields a purer air,

JUV.

And,

And, fix'd on Cambria's folitary shore,
Give to St. David one true Briton more.

For who would leave, unbrib'd, Hibernia's land,
Or change the rocks of Scotland for the Strand?
There none are swept by fudden fate away;
But all whom hunger fpares, with age decay.
Here malice, rapine, accident, confpire;
And now a rabble rages, now à fire:
Their ambush here relentless ruffians lay,
And here the fell attorney prowls for prey;
Here falling houfes thunder on your head,
And here a female atheist talks you dead.

While Thales waits the wherry that contains
Of diffipated wealth the fmall remains,"
On Thames's bank in filent thought we ftood,
Where Greenwich smiles upon the filver flood.
Struck with the feat that gave Eliza birth*,
We kneel, and kifs the confecrated earth;
In pleafing dreams the blissful age renew,
And call Britannia's glories back to view:
Behold her cross triumphant on the main,
The guard of commerce, and the dread of Spain;
Ere masquerades debauch'd, excise oppress'd,
Or English honour grew a standing jeft.

A tranfient calm the happy fcenes beftow,
And, for a moment, lull the sense of woe.
At length, awaking with contemptuous frown,
Indignant Thales eyes the neighb’ring town.

• Since worth,' he cries, in these degen'rate days,

• Wants e'en the cheap reward of empty praise ;
In those curs'd walls, devote to vice and gain,
Since unrewarded fcience toils in vain;
Since hope but foothes to double my diftrefs,
And ev'ry moment leaves my little lefs;

Queen Elizabeth was born at Greenwich.

• While yet my steady steps no staff sustains,

And life, ftill vig'rous, revels in my veins;

• Grant me, kind Heav'n, to find fome happier place, Where honefty and fenfe are no disgrace;

• Some pleafing bank where verdant ofiers play,
• Some peaceful vale with Nature's painting gay ;
• Where once the harrafs'd Briton found repose,

And fafe in poverty, defy'd his foes;

• Some fecret cell, ye pow'rs, indulgent give: live here, for has learn'd to live.

• Let

• Here let those reign, whom penfions can incite To vote a patriot black, a courtier white;

Explain their country's dear-bought rights away, • And plead for pirates in the face of day;

• With flavish tenets taint our poifon'd youth,
⚫ And lend a lye the confidence of truth.

Let fuch raise palaces, and manors, buy,
Collect a tax, or farm a lottery;

With warbling eunuchs fill a licens'd stage,
And lull to fervitude a thoughtless age.

Heroes, proceed! what bounds your pride fhall hold !

• What check restrain your thirst of pow'r and gold!
Behold rebellious virtue quite o'erthrown,

• Behold our fame, our wealth, our lives your own.
To fuch, a groaning nation's fpoils are giv'n,
When publick crimes inflame the wrath of Heav'n :
But what, my friend, what hope remains for me,
Who start at theft, and blush at perjury?

• Who fcarce forbear, tho' Britain's court he fing,
To pluck a titled poet's borrow'd wing;
A ftatesman's logick unconvinc'd can hear,
▼ ‹ And dare to flumber o'er the Gazetteer;
Defpife a fool in half his penfion drefs'd,
And strive in vain to laugh at H- -y's jeft.
• Others with fofter fmiles, and subtler art,
Can fap the principles, or taint the heart;

"

• With more address a lover's note convey,

* Or bribe a virgin's innocence away.

'Well may they rife, while I, whose ruftick tongue
'Ne'er knew to puzzle right, or varnish wrong,.
'Spurn'd as a beggar, dreaded as a spy,
'Live unregarded, unlamented die.

For what but focial guilt the friend endears!
Who shares Orgilio's crimes, his fortune shares :
But thou, fhould tempting villainy prefent
All Marlb'rough hoarded, or all Villiers spent,
Turn from the glitt'ring bribe thy fcornful eye,
'Nor fell for gold, what gold could never buy;
The peaceful flumber, self-approving day,
Unfullied fame, and confcience ever gay.
• The cheated nation's happy fav'rites see;
Mark whom the great carefs, who frown on me.
London! the needy villain's gen❜ral home,
The common-fewer of Paris and of Rome,
' With eager thirst, by folly or by fate,
Sucks in the dregs of each corrupted state.
Forgive my transports on a theme like this;
• I cannot bear a French metropolis.

Illuftrious Edward! from the realms of day,
The land of heroes and of faints furvey:
Nor hope the British lineaments to trace,
‹ The rustick grandeur, or the furly grace;
But, loft in thoughtless eafe, and empty fhew,
Behold the warrior dwindled to a beau;
Senfe, freedom, piety, refin'd away,
Of France the mimick, and of Spain the prey.
All that at home no more can beg or fteal,
Or like a gibbet better than a wheel;

Hifs'd from the stage, or hooted from the court,
Their air, their drefs, their politicks import;

Obfequious, artful, voluble, and gay,

* On Britain's fond credulity they prey.