SEA-PIECE: CONTAINING 1. The British Sailor's exultation. 2. His prayer before engagement. THE DEDICATION. TO MR. VOLTAIRE. 1. MY Muse, a bird of passage, flies From frozen climes to milder skies; From chilling blasts she seeks thy cheering beam, Conscious of faults, her blushing pride Hopes an asylum in so great a name, The warrior's ardent deeds to raise, * Annals of the Emperor Charles XII. Lewis XIV. Young.] Cij 10 HI. But where's his dolphin? know'st thou where ?-- Save thou from harm my plunge into the wave: My sinking song? Mere mortal lays, So patroniz'd, are rescu'd from the grave. 1. "Tell me," say'st thou, "who courts my smile? 20 Thy rage provok'd, who sooth'd with gentle rhymes. V. Who kindly couch'd thy censute's eye, And gave thee clearly to descry Sound judgment giving law to fancy strong: Nor could thy modesty do less, That Milton's blindness lay not in his song. VI. But such debates long since are flown: On airy pastimes, ere our brows were gray: To thee, my patron, I my debt, And thou to thine for Prussia's golden key. 30 Vit. The present, in oblivion cast, Full soon shall sleep, as sleeps the past; Ye wing'd, ye rapid, Moments! stay: Life's little drama done, the curtain falls l-an Tho' nothing strikes the list'ning ear; Time groans his last; Eternal loudly calls! IX. Nor calls in vain; the call inspires Far other counsels and desires Than once prevail'd: we stand on higher ground: What scenes we see !---Exalted aim! With ardours new our spirits flame; Ambition blesss'd! with more than laurels crown'd. 40 A SEA-PIECE. ODE THE FIRST. The British Sailor's exultation. 1. IN lofty sounds let those delight Who brave the foe but fear the fight, And, bold in word, of arms decline the stroke, 'Tis mean to boast, but great to lend To foes the counsel of a friend, And warn them of the vengeance they provoke. From whence arise these loud alarms? Why gleams the South with brandish'd arms? Perhaps their ardours may subside, When weigh'd the wonders Britain's sailor sings. Jif. Hear, and revere.---At Britain's nod, From each enchanted grove and wood, Hastes the huge oak, or shadeless forest leaves; And ride o'er rocks, and dance on foaming waves. IV. She nods again; the lab'ring earth In smoking rivers runs her molten ore Flame from the deck from trembling bastions roar. V. These ministers of Fate fulfil, On empires wide, an island's will, 20 When thrones unjust wake vengeance. Know, ye In sudden night, and pond'rous balls [Pow'rs 30 When brav'd Britannia's awful senate low'rs. VI. In her grand council* she surveys, Vil. Britannia sheaths her courage keen, And spares her nitrous magazine; Her cannon, slumber, till the proud aspire, Touch'd by their injur'd master's soul of fi House of Lords. |