Ere yet thy waters meet the briny tide,
And freighted veffels down thy channel ride;
Ere yet thy billows leave their banks behind,
Swell into state, and foam before the wind:
Thy fovereign's emblem! in thy courfe compleat!
When I behold him in his lov'd retreat,
Where rural scenes their pleafing views disclose,
A fylvan deity the monarch shows;

And if he only knew the woods to grace,
To rouze the tag, and animate the chace:
While every hour, from thence, his high commands,
By speedy winds convey'd to various lands,
Control affairs; give weighty councils birth;
And sway the mighty rulers of the earth.
Were he, our island's glory and defence,
To reign unactive, at the world's expence ;
Say, generous Craggs, who then fhould quell the rage
Of lawless faction, and reform the age?

Who fhould our dear-bought liberties maintain ?
Who fix our leagues with France, and treat with Spain?
Who check the headftrong Swede; affuage the Czar;
Secure our peace, and quench the northern war?
The Turk, though he the Chriftian name defies,
And curfes Eugene, yet from Eugene flies,
His caufe to Brunfwick's equity dare trust;
He knows him valiant, and concludes him just:
He knows his fame in early youth acquir'd,
When turban'd hofts before his fword retir’d.

Thus while his influence to the poles extends,
Or where the day begins, or where it ends,

And thofe his power protects, his goodness charms.
Great in himself, and undebas'd with pride,
The fovereign lays his regal state aside,
Pleas'd to appear without the bright disguise
Of pomp; and on his inborn worth relies.
His fubjects are his guests; and daily boast
The condefcenfion of their royal hoft :
While crowds fucceeding crowds on either hand,
A ravish'd multitude, admiring ftand.
His manly wit and fenfe, with candour join'd,
His fpeech with every elegance refin'd,
His winning afpect, his becoming ease,
Peculiar graces all, confpire to please,
And render him to every heart approv'd;
The king refpected, and the man belov'd.

Nor is his force of genius lefs admir'd,
When most from crowds or public cares retir'd.
The learned arts, by turns, admittance find;
At once unbend and exercise his mind.
The fecret fprings of Nature, long conceal'd,
And to the wife by flow degrees reveal'd,
(Delightful fearch!) his piercing thought defcries,
Oft through the concave azure of the skies
His foul delights to range, a boundless space,
Which myriads of celeftial glories grace;
Worlds behind worlds, that deep in æther lye,
And funs, that twinkle to the diftant eye;
Or call them stars, on which our fates depend,
And every ruling tar is Brunswick's friend.

Soon

Soon as the rifing fun fhoots o'er the ftream,
And gilds the palace with a ruddy beam,
You to the healthful chace attend the king,
And hear the forest with the huntsmen ring:
While in the dusty town we rule the state,
And from Gazettes determine England's fate.
Our groundless hopes and groundless fears prevail,
As artful brokers comment on the mail.
Deafned with news, with politics oppreft,

I wish the wind ne'er vary'd from the west.
Secure, on George's councils I rely,

Give up my cares, and Britain's foes defy.

What though cabals are form'd, and impious leagues? Though Rome fills Europe with her dark intrigues? His vigilance, on every state intent,

Defeats their plots, and over-rules th' event.

But whither do my vain endeavours tend? Or how fhall I my rash attempt defend? Divided in my choice, from praise to praise I rove, bewilder'd in the pleafing maze. One virtue mark'd, another I purfue, While yet another rifes to my view. Unequal to the task, too late I find The growing theme unfinish'd left behind Thus, the deluded bee, in hopes to drain At once the thymy treasure of the plain, Wide ranging on her little pinions toils, And ikims o'er hundred flowers for one the spoils: When, foon o'erburden'd with the fragrant weight, Homeward the flies, and flags beneath her freight.

ΤΟ

B

TO LORD

CARTERET,

Departing from DUBLIN. 1726.

EHOLD, Britannia waves her flag on high,
And calls forth breezes from the western sky,
And beckons to her son, and smooths the tide,
That does Hibernia from her cliffs divide..

Go, Carteret, go; and, with thee, go along
The nation's bleffing, and the poet's fong;
Loud acclamations, with melodious lays,
The kindest wishes, and fincereft praise.

Go, Carteret, go; and bear my joys away!
So fpeaks the Mufe, that fain would bid thee stay :
So fpoke the virgin to the youth unkind,
Who gave his vows, and canvafs, to the wind,
And promis'd to return; but never more
Did he return to the Threïcian fhore.

Go, Carteret, go: alas, a tedious while
Haft thou been abfent from thy mother-ifle ;.
A flow-pac'd train of months to thee and thine,
A flight of moments to a heart like mine,
That feels perfections, and refigns with pain
Enjoyments I may never know again.

O, while mine cyc pursues the fading fails,
Smooth roll, ye waves, and steady breathe, ye gales,
And urge with gentle speed to Albion's strand

A houthold fair, amidst the fairest land,
In every decency of life polite,

A freight of virtues, wafting from my fight:

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And

And now farewel, O early in renown,
Illuftrious,, young, in labours for the crown,
Juft, and benign, and vigilant, in power,
And elegant to grace the vacant hour,
Relaxing fweet! Nor are we born to wear
The brow ftill bent, and give up life to care:
And thou, mild glory, beaming round his fame,
Francifca, thou, his firft, his latest flame;
Parent of bloom!. In pleafing arts refin'd!
Farewel thy hand, and voice, in music join'd;
Thy courtesy, as foothing as thy song,

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322

365

And Carolina, chiding tardy Time,

And thou, Chariffa, haftening to thy prime,

And fmiles foft-gleaming on the courtly throng:

Who every tender with of mine divide,

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For whom I ftrung the lyre, once laid aside,
Receive, and bear in mind, my fond farewell,
Thrive on in life! and, thriving on, excell!

Accept this token, Carteret, of good-will,
The voice of nature, undebas'd by skill,
Thefe parting numbers, cadenc'd by my grief,
For thy lov'd fake, and for my own relief,
If aught, alas, thy absence may relieve,
Now I am left, perhaps, through life to grieve:
Yet would I hope, yet hope I know not why,
(But hopes and wishes in one balance lie)
Thou may'ft revifit, with thy wonted fimiles,
Tërna, island fet around with ifles :

May the fame heart, that bids thee now adieu,
Salute thy fails, and hail thee into view!

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ODES.