He foftening can forgive a gallant foe; 560 By Rites for fome weak tyrant incense fit, 565 The GOD OF LOVE adores, but from a heart Effufing gladness, into pleasing awe That now astonish'd fwells, now in a calm 570 And then most grateful, when HEAVEN'S bounty most I joy'd to join the VIRTUES whence my reign The VIRTUES conquer with a fingle look. 575 580 585 590 595 But chief around the court of flatter'd kings 600. 610 Ne'er looks direct. The tongue that licks the dust, 616 An honest name. The harpy hand, and maw, 62Q Of avaricious Luxury; who makes The throne his fhelter, venal laws his fort, And, by his fervice, who betrays his king. Now turn your view, and mark from * Celtic night ང་ * GREAT-BRITAIN was peopled by the Celtae or Gauls. To. To prefent grandeur how my BRITAIN rofe. 625 635 Bold were those BRITONS, who, the careless fons Of Nature, roam'd the forest-bounds, at once Their verdant city, high-embowering fane, And the gay circle of their woodland wars: For by the + Druid taught, that death but shifts 630 The vital scene, they that prime fear despis'd; And, prone to rush on steel, difdain'd to spare An ill-faved life that muft again return. Erect from Nature's hand, by tyrant Force, And still more tyrant. Cuftom, unfubdued, Man knows no mafter fave creating HEAVEN, Or fuch as choice and common good ordain. This general fenfe, with which the nations I Promifcuous fire, in BRITONS burn'd intenfe, Of future times prophetic. Witness, Rome, Who faw'ft thy Caefar, from the naked land, Whofe only fort was British hearts, repell'd, To feek Pharfalian wreaths. Witness, the toil, The blood of ages, bootlefs to fecure, Beneath an Empire's yoke, a stubborn Isle, Difputed hard, and never quite fubdued. 640 645 The Northrenain'd untouch'd, where thofe who scorn'd 650 †The Druids, among the ancient Gauls and Britons, had the care and direction of all religious matters. * Caledonia, inhabited by the Scots and Pifts; whither a great many Britons, who would not fubmit to the Romans, retired. The * wall immense, and yet, on summer's eve, While fport his lambkins round, the fhepherd's gaze... Continual o'er it burst the † Northern Storm, As often, check'd, receded; threatening hoarfe 655 A swift return. But the devouring flood 660 No more endured controul, when, to support He roll'd his eye, not sparkling ardent flame, 665 Then (fad relief!) from the bleak, coaft that hears The wall of Severus, built upon Adrian's rampart, which ran for eighty miles quite cross the country, from the mouth of the Tyne to Solway frith. Irruptions of the Scots and Pics. The Roman empire being miferably torn by the northern nations, Britain was for ever abandoned by the Romans in the year 426 or 427. § The Britons applying to Actius the Roman general for affiftance, thus expreffed their miferable condition" We "know not which way to turn us. The Barbarians drive us "to the fea, and the fea forces us back to the Barbarians; "between which we have only the choice of two deaths, ei“ther to be swallowed up by the waves, or butchered by the "fword." ** King of the Silures, famous for his great exploits, and accounted the best general Great Britain had ever produced. The Silures were esteemed the bravest and most powerful of all the Britons: they inhabited Herefordshire, Radnorfire, Brecknockshire, Monmouthshire, and Glamorganshire. tt Queen of the Iceni; her story is well known. The The German ocean roar, deep-blooming, strong, 670 680. Blood, where unquell'd a mighty fpirit glow'd. 675 685 It is certain, that an opinion was fixed and general among them (the Goths), that death was but the entrance into another life; that all men who lived lazy and unactive lives, and died natural deaths, by fickness or by age, went into vast caves under ground, all dark and miry, full of noisome crea-.. tures ufual to fuch places, and there for ever grovelled in endless stench and mifery. On the contrary, all who gave themfelves to warlike actions and enterprizes, to the conquest of their neighbours and the flaughter of their enemies, and died, in battle, or of violent deaths upon bold adventures or refolutions, went immediately to the vast hall or palace of Odin, their god of war, who eternally kept open house for all fuch guests, where they were entertained at infinite tables, in perpetual feasts and mirth, carousing in bowls made of the fculls of their enemies they had flain; according to the number of whom, every one in these mansions of pleasure was the most honoured and best entertained. Sir WILLIAM TEMPLE'S Efay on Heroic Virtue. The |