VERSES,

ADDRESSED

TO FREEDOM.

"A most notorious villain,

To see the sufferings of my fellow creatures,
And own myself a man; to see our senators
Cheat the deluded people with a shew
Of Liberty, which yet they ne'er must taste of."

Venice Preserved.

WHETHER reclining on the mouldering tomb

Of murder'd Brutus, where Italia's shore,

Dash'd by the foaming deep, exalts her head
Above the raging waves, thou mourn'st the cries

Of Virtue sinking with his Cato's fall;

Or brooding o'er the ruins of thy Greece,
Sit'st in triumphant state on the wild rocks,
Which overhang, with gloomy shade, the fields
Of slaughter dy'd Thermopyla; what time

The North-wind rages o'er the swelling seas,
And howls along the main: while equal horrors
Rise in thy mind, and wake its slumbering fires.
Where'er thou deign'st to dwell, from war, from death,
From gasping Patriots, and self-murder'd Chiefs,
Once more, O Goddess! spread thy fostering plumes,
And wing thy rapid way along the sky

To Gallia's shores; with thee the sister arts,
With thee shall science swell her letter'd page,
Rich with the spoils of Time, while Virtue's hand
Expands the Laws of Heaven to human kind.
Fragrant the morning breathes along the vale;
Soft trill the mountain lark's aerial notes;

The swallow twitters from her straw built nest,
While the white swan, with more majestic pride,
Exalts her snowy breast above the wave,

And stems the sun gilt pool; for thou art there,
Thy presence animates the glowing fields,

Smiles through the grove, upborne on Zephyr's wing,
And dances on the stream; the finny race
Catch the soft joy, and with transparent fins

Now cut the surface of the glassy flood,

Now plunge amidst the deeps, then rising dart
Their silver brightness into upper air:

'Tis Heaven born Liberty inspires the whole,

The

The various animals upon the earth,

With those that skim the air, or dive the main,
Thy potent magic influence obey.

The first chief principle of all around,

To Freedom stamp'd by Nature's forming hand;
Her characters indelible inspire,

A love superior to the life, which breathes
Through the dull clod, and animates their clay.
Thine, Goddess, is the chain, whose stable force
Connects the world, and like the central point
Attracts all earthly beings to itself,
With unresisting power, eternal sway!
Beneath the fiery radiance of the sun,

Where glow the Lybian plains, and torrid zone,
Where nor green tree, with wide extended shade,
Invites the traveller to calm repose;

Nor bubbling fountain murmurs in the ear
With health distilling draughts, but endless plagues

Rage o'er the barren soil, and whirlwinds sweep

The gath'ring atoms of collected sands

Along the groaning desart, there, e'en there,
Thy voice still echoes through the gloomy wilds,
And fires the serpent's rage. Aloft he rears
His shining back, which with resplendent scales

T

3

Reflects the dazzling ray; dreadful he gleams
Along the scorching waste, with monst'rous folds,
Threat'ning destruction; from his angry eyes
Flash sparks of horrid flame; so thro' the sky
The Comet rolls an hideous length, around
Shrink the pale stars before its baneful fires.
Instinct through all is free, but man alone
The boasted Lord of Reason bows before
Ambition's tott'ring mound, submits his back
And bears the oppressive load: the fierce driver
(Proudly exulting) shakes the whirling whip,
And strains the tight'ning rein: around him throng
The many headed crowd, while senators,
Tribunes, prefects, nay and soldiers too,
Deify a foreign base usurper,

For his treachery, and emulously strive

To pave his way to empire, pleas'd to shew
Their badge of baseness, and unmanly chains.
How long, O Goddess, shall France mourn in vain
Thy sacred presence, and with fruitless rage
Strain the vile bonds, which bind her fast to shame?
But why in vain? Yet, yet, the freeborn soul,
Shall rise vindictive, triumph o'er her chains,
Replume her soaring wings, re-urge her flight,

And

And trample on oppression: like the flame

Which heap'd with crackling faggots yields awhile,

Till bursting sudden through the opposing pile,

Again it blazes in the face of day

With tenfold rage, not vanquish'd, but opprest.
Tremble ye sons of Rapine, tremble all

Who dare betray their country; venal souls
Whose God is gain! who dare to hear the cries
Of Liberty, nor hasten to her aid.

How shall ye meet her frown? How stand the shock,
When arm'd with terror, and array'd in light,

She marches forth, her head above the clouds,

And shakes the dreadful lash of Conscience down?
Down to the depths of hell; bid mountains crush,
Seas swell, and billows rise to hide your crimes;
Bid night obscure them in her murky veil,
And clouds of ten-fold darkness Chaos press,
Amidst the fall of worlds, and general wreck.

In vain, where e'er she comes, gloom disappears,
Seas part their waves, and leave the wond'ring shores
Forth from the black abyss, and formless mass,

Perennial Beauty smiles, and Order lifts

Her blooming head, with verdant laurels crown'd.