When schemes are fix'd, and each affign'd a part,
None ferves his country with a nobler heart;
Just thoughts of honour all his mind control,
And expedition wings his lively foul.
On fuch a Patriot to confer the truft,
The Monarch knows it fafe, as well as juft.
Then next proceeding in her Agents' choice,
And ever pleas'd that worth obtains the voice,
She, from the voice of high-diftinguish'd fames,
With pious Bristol, gallant Strafford names:
One form'd to stand a Church's firm fupport,
The other fitted to adorn a Court:
Both vers'd in business, both of fine addrefs,
By which experience leads to great fuccefs:
And both to distant lands the Monarch fends,
And, to their conduct, Europe's peace commends.
Now hips unmoor'd, to waft her Agents o'er,
Spread all their fail, and quit the flying shore;
The foreign Agents reach th' appointed place,
The Congress opens, and it will be peace.
Methinks the war, like ftormy winter, flies,
When fairer months unveil the bluish skies;
A flowery world the sweetest season spreads,
And doves, with branches, flutter round their heads.
Half-peopled Gaul, whom numerous ills destroy,
With wishful heart, attends the promis'd joy.
For this prepares the Duke- ah, fadly flain,
'Tis grief to name him whom we mourn in vain :
No warmth of verfe repairs the vital flame,
For verfe can only grant a life in fame;
Yet could my praise, like spicy odours shed,
In everlasting fong embalm the dead;
To realms that weeping heard the loss I'd tell,
What courage, fenfe, and faith, with Brandon fell!
But Britain more than one for glory breeds,
And polish'd Talbot to the charge fucceeds;
Whofe far-projecting thoughts, maturely clear,
Like glasses, draw their distant objects near.
Good parts, by gentle breeding much refin'd,
And stores of learning, grace his ample mind;
A cautious virtue regulates his ways,
And honour gilds them with a thousand rays.
To ferve his nation, at his Queen's command,
He parts, commiffion'd for the Gallick land:
With pleasure Gaul beholds him on her shore,,
And learns to love a name the fear'd before.
Once more aloft, there meet for new debates, The Guardian Angels of Europa's states: And mutual concord shines in every face, And every bofom glows with hopes of peace; While Britain's fteps, in one confent, they praise, Then gravely mourn their other realms delays; Their doubtful claims, through feas of blood purfued, Their fears that Gallia fell but half subdued; And all the reasonings which attempt to show That war should ravage in the world below. "Ah, fall'n eftate of man! can rage delight, "Wounds please the touch, or ruin charm the fight! "Ambition make unlovely Mischief fair! "Or ever Pride be Providence's care!
"When stern Oppreffors range the bloody field,
"'Tis juft to conquer, and unfafe to yield :
"There fave the nations; but no more purfue,
"Nor in thy turn become Oppressor too."
Our rebel angels for Ambition fell,
And, war in Heaven produc'd a Fiend in Hell.
Thus, with a foft concern for man's repofe,
The tender Guardians join to moan our woes;
Then awful rise, combin'd with all their might,
To find what Fury, 'fcap'd the den of night,
The pleafing labours of their love withstands,
And fpreads a wild distraction o'er the lands.
Their glittering pinions, found in yielding air,
And watchful Providence approves the care.
In Flandria's foil, where camps have mark'd the plain,
The Fiend, impetuous Discord, fix'd her reign;
A tent her royal feat. With full refort
Stern fhapes of Horror throng'd her bufy court;
Blind Mischief, Ambush clofe concealing Ire,
Loud Threatenings, Ruin arm'd with sword and fire;
Affaulting Fierceness, Anger wanting breath,
High reddening Rage, and various forms of death;
Dire Imps of darkness, whom with gore The feeds,
When war beyond its point of good proceeds.
In Gallick armour, call'd with alter'd name
Great love of Empire, to the field she came;
Now, ftill fupporting Feud, fhe ftrives to hide
Beneath that name, and only change the fide :
But, as the whirl'd the rapid wheels around,
Where mangled limbs in heaps pollute the ground
(A fullen
(A fullen joyless fport); with fearching eye,
The fhining Chiefs regard her as they fly;
Then, hovering, dart their beams of heavenly light:
She starts, the Fury stands confefs'd to fight;
And grieves to leave the foil, and yells aloud,
He yells are anfwer'd by the fable crowd;
And all on bat-like wings (if Fame be true)
From Chriftian lands to Northern climates flew.
But rifing murmurs from Britannia's shore
With speed recall her watchful Guardian o'er.
He fpreads his pinions, and, approaching near,
These hints, in fcatter'd words, affault his ear:
The People's power-The Grand Alliance crofs'd,
The Peace is separate-Our Religion 's loft.
Led by the blatant voice along the skies,
He comes, where Faction over cities flies;
A talking Fiend, whom fhaky locks disgrace,
And numerous mouths deform her dusky face;
Whence Lies are utter'd, Whifper foftly founds,
Sly Doubts amaze, or Inuendo wounds.
Within her arms are heaps of Pamphlets seen,
And these blafpheme the Saviour, those the Queen;
Affociate Vices: thus with tongue and hand,
She fhed her venom o'er the troubled land.
Now vex'd that Difcord, and the baneful train
That tends on Difcord, fled the neighbouring plain,
She rag'd to madness; when the Guardian came,
And downwards drove her with a sword of flame.
A mountain, gaping to the nether Hell,
Receiv'd the Fury, railing as the fell':
The mountain clofing o'er the Fury lies,
And ftops her paffage, where the means to rife;
And when she strives, or fhifts her fide for ease,
All Britain rocks amidst her circling seas.
Now Peace, returning after tedious woes,
Reftores the comforts of a calm repose;
Then bid the warriors fheath their fanguin'd arm,
Bid angry trumpets ceafe to found alarms:
Guns leave to thunder in the tortur'd air,
Red ftreaming colours furl around the spear;
And each contending realm no longer jar,
But, pleas'd with reft, unharness all the war.
She comes, the Bleffing comes; where'er fhe moves
New-fpringing Beauty all the land improves :
More heaps of fragrant flowers the field adorn,
More fweet the birds falute the rofy, morn;
More lively green refreshes all the leaves,
And in the breeze the corn more thickly waves.
She comes, the Bleffing comes in easy state,
And forms of brightness all around her wait :
Here fmiling Safety, with her bofom bare,
Securely walks, and chearful Plenty there;:
Here wondrous Sciences with eagles' fight;
There Liberal Arts, which make the world polite;
And open Traffick, joining hand in hand,
With honeft Industry, approach the land.
O, welcome, long-defir'd, and lately found!
Here fix thy feat upon the British ground;
Thy fhining train around the nation send,
While by degrees the loading taxes end :
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