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OCCASIONED BY THE

PRESENT JUNCTURE.*

Inscribed to

THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE.

HOLLES! immortal in far more than fame!
Be thou illustrious in far more than pow'r.
Great things are small when greater rise to view.
Tho' station'd high, and press'd with public cares,
Disdain not to peruse my serious song,
Which peradventure, may push by the world:
Of a few moments rob Britannia's weal,
And leave Europa's counsels less mature;
For thou art noble, and the theme is great.

Nor shall or Europe or Britannia blame
Thine absent ear, but gain by the delay.
Long vers'd in senates and in cabinets,
States' intricate demands and high debates!
As thou of use to those, so this to thee;
And in a point that empire far outweighs,
That far outweighs all Europe's thrones in one.
Let greatness prove its title to be great.
'Tis pow'r's supreme prerogative to stamp
On others' minds an image of its own.

Bend the strong influence of high place, to stem
*The late rebellion in 1745.

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The stream that sweeps away the country's weal;
The Stygian stream, the torrent of our guilt.
For as thou mayst give life to Virtue's cause;
Let not the ties of personal regard

Betray the nation's trusts to feeble hands:
Let not fomented flames of private pique
Prey on the vitals of the public good:
Let not our streets with blasphemies resound,
Nor lewdness whisper where the laws can reach :
Let not best laws, the wisdom of our sires,
Turn satires on their sunk degen'rate sons,
The bastards of their blood! and serve no point
But, with more emphasis, to call them fools:
Let not our rank enormities unhinge
Britannia's welfare from divine support.

Such deeds the Minister, the Prince adorn;
No pow'r is shown but in such deeds as these:
All, all is impotence but acting right;

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And where's the statesman that would shew his pow'r?

To prince and people thou, of equal zeal!

Be it thenceforward but thy second care

To grace thy country, and support the throne;
Tho' this supported, that adorn'd so well.

A throne superior our first homage claims;
To Cæsar's Cæsar our first tribute due:

A tribute which, unpaid, makes specious wrong
And splendid sacrilege of all beside:
Illustrious follows; we must first be just;

And what so just as awe for the Supreme?
Less fear we rugged ruffians of the North,
Than Virtue's well-clad rebels nearer home:
Less Loyola's disguis'd, all-aping sons,
Than traitors lurking in our appetites;
Less all the legions Seine and Tagus send,
Than unrein'd passions rushing on our peace:
Yon' savage mountaineers are tame to these.
Against those rioters send forth the laws,
And break to Reason's yoke their wild careers.

Prudence for all things points the proper hour,
Tho' some seem more importunate and great.
Tho' Britain's gen'rous views and int'rests spread
Beyond the narrow circle of her shores,

And their grand entries make on distant lands;
Tho' Britain's Genius the wide wave bestrides,
And, like a vast Collossus, tow'ring stands
With one foot planted on the Continent;
Yet be not wholly wrapp'd in public cares,
Tho' such high cares should call as call'd of late;
The cause of kings and emperors adjourn,
And Europe's little balance drop awhile;
For greater drop it: ponder and adjust
The rival int'rests and contending claims
Of life and death, of now and of for-ever;
Sublimest theme! and needful as sublime.
Thus great Eliza's oracles renown'd,

Thus Walsingham and Raleigh (Britain's boasts!)

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Thus ev'ry statesman thought that ever---dy'd.
There's inspiration in a sable hour,

And Death's approach makes politicians wise.
When, thunderstruck, that eagle Wolsey fell; 80
When royal favour, as an ebbing sea,
Like a leviathan, his grandeur left,

His gasping grandeur! naked on the strand,
Naked of human, doubtful of divine,
Assistance; no more wallowing in his wealth,
Spouting proud foams of insolence no more,
On what, then, smote his heart, uncardinall'd,
And sunk beneath the level of a man?
On the grand article the sum of things!
The point of the first magnitude! that point
Tubes, mounted in a court, but rarely reach;
Some painted cloud still intercepts their sight.
First right to judge; then chuse; then persevere,
Stedfast, as if a crown or mistress call'd.---
These, these are politics will stand the test,

When finer politics their master sting,

And statesmen fain would shrink to common men.

These, these are politics will answer now,

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(When common men would fain to statesmen swell)
Beyond a Machiavel's or Tencin's scheme.
All safety rests on honest counsels: these
Immortalize the statesman, bless the state,
Make the prince triumph, and the people smile;
In peace rever'd, or terrible in arms,

Close-leagu'd with an invincible ally,
Which honest counsels never fail to fix
In favour of an unabandon'd land;

A land---that starts at such a land as this,
A parliament, so principled, will sink
All ancient schools of empire in disgrace
And Britain's glory, rising from the dead,
Will fill the world, loud Fame's superior song.

Britain!--that word pronounc'd is an alarm;
It warms the blood, tho' frozen in our veins
Awakes the soul, and sends her to the field,
Enamour'd of the glorious face of Death.
Britain!--there's noble magic in the sound,
O what illustrious images arise!

Embattled, round me, blaze the pomps of war!
By sea, by land, at home, in foreign climes,
What full-blown laurels on our fathers' brows!
Ye radiant Trophies! and imperial Spoils!
Ye Scenes!---astonishing to modern sight!
Let me, at least, enjoy you in a dream,

Why vanish? Stay, ye godlike Strangers! stay.
Strangers!---I wrong my countrymen: they wake;
High beats the pulse; the noble pulse of War
Beats to that ancient measure, that grand march
Which then prevail'd, when Britain highest soar'd,
And ev'ry battle paid for heroes slain.

No more our great forefathers stain our cheeks
With blushes; their renown our shame no more.

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