He foftening can forgive a gallant foe;
The nerve, support, and glory of the land!
Nor be RELIGION, rational and free,
Here pass'd in filence; whofe enraptur'd eye
Sees heaven with earth connected, human things
Link'd to divine: who not from fervile fear,

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
Of fearless confidence that smiles ferene;
That lives devotion, one continual hymn,

570

And then most grateful, when HEAVEN'S bounty most
Is right enjoy'd. This ever-chearful Power
O'er the rais'd cirole ray'd fuperior day.

I joy'd to join the VIRTUES whence my reign
O'er ALBION was to rife. Each chearing each,
And, like the circling planets from the fun,
All borrowing beams from ME, a heighten'd zeal
Impatient fir'd us to commence our toils,
Or pleasures rather. Long the pungent time
Pafs'd not in mutual hails; but, thro' the land
Darting our light, we fhone the fogs away.

The VIRTUES conquer with a fingle look.
Such grace, fuch beauty, fuch victorious light,
Live in their prefence, ftream in every glance,
That the foul won, enamour'd, and refin'd,
Grows their own image, pure etherial flame.
Hence the foul DEMONS, that oppose our reign,
Would still from us dēluded mortals wrap;
Or in grofs fhades they drown the visual ray,
Or by the fogs of prejudice, where mix
Falfhood and truth confounded, foil the fense
With vain refracted images of bliss.

575

580

585

590

595

But chief around the court of flatter'd kings
They roll the dusky rampart, wall o'er wall
Of darkness pile, and with their thickest shade
Secure the throne. No favage Alp, the den
Of wolves, and bears, and monftrous things obfcene,
That vex the fwain and waste the country round,
Protected lyes beneath a deeper cloud.
Yet there we sometimes fend a fearching ray.
As, at the facred opening of the morn,
The prowling race retire; fo, pierc'd fevere,
Before our potent blaze these DEMONS fly,
And all their works diffolve-The whisper'd tale,
That like the fabling Nile, no fountain knows. 605
Fair-fac'd Deceit, whofe wily conscious eye

600.

610

Ne'er looks direct. The tongue that licks the dust,
But, when it fafely dares, as prompt to sting:
Smooth crocodile Destruction, whose fell tears
Enfnare. The Janus face of courtly Pride;
One to fuperiors heaves fubmissive eyes,
On hapless worth the other fcouls disdain.
Cheeks that for fome weak tenderness, alone,
Some virtuous flip, can wear a blush. The Laugh
Profane, when midnight bowls disclose the heart,
At ftarving Virtue, and at Virtue's Fools.
Determin'd to be broke, the plighted Faith;
Nay more, the Godlefs Oath; that knows no ties.
Soft-buzzing Slander; filky moths, that eat

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
To stoop retired; and, to their keen effort
Yielding at last, recoil'd the Roman power.
In vain, unable to fuftain the fhock,
From fea to fea defponding legions rais'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
The last | remains of empire, was recall'd
The weary Roman, and the Briton lay
Unnerv'd, exhaustless, spiritless, and funk,
Great proof! how men enfeeble into slaves.
The fword behind him flash'd; before him roar'd,
Deaf to his woes, the deep. Forlorn, around

He roll'd his eye, not sparkling ardent flame,
As when ** Caractacus to battle led
Silurian fwains, and ++ Boadicea taught
Her raging troops the miseries of flaves.

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,
And yellow-hair'd, the blue-eyed Saxon came,
He came implor'd, but came with other aim
Than to protect. For conquest and defence.
Suffices the fame arm. With the fierce race
Pour'd in a fresh invigorating ftream,.

670

680.

Blood, where unquell'd a mighty fpirit glow'd. 675
Rafh war, and perilous battle, their delight;
And immature, and red with glorious wounds,
Unpeaceful death their choice: † deriving thence
A right to feast, and drain immortal bowls,
In Odin's hall; whose blazing roof resounds
The genial uproar of those shades, who fall
In defperate fight, or by fome brave attempt;
And tho' more polish'd times the martial Creed
Difown, yet still the fearless habit lives.
Nor were the furly gifts of war their all.
Wisdom was likewife theirs, indulgent laws,

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