FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   >>  
im let venal bards disgrace the bay, And hireling minstrels wake the tinkling string; Her sensual snares let faithless Pleasure lay; And jingling bells fantastic Folly ring; 100 Disquiet, doubt, and dread shall intervene, And Nature, still to all her feelings just, In vengeance hang a damp on every scene, Shook from the baneful pinions of Disgust. ANTISTROPHE. Nature I'll court in her sequester'd haunts, By mountain, meadow, streamlet, grove, or cell, Where the poised lark his evening ditty chaunts, And Health, and Peace, and Contemplation dwell. There Study shall with Solitude recline, And Friendship pledge me to his fellow swains, 110 And Toil and Temperance sedately twine The slender cord that fluttering life sustains; And fearless Poverty shall guard the door, And Taste unspoil'd the frugal table spread, And Industry supply the humble store, And Sleep unbribed his dews refreshing shed; White-mantled Innocence, ethereal sprite! Shall chase far off the goblins of the night, And Independence o'er the day preside, Propitious power! my patron and my pride! 120 [Footnote 1: 'Baptised with blood:' Charlemagne obliged four thousand Saxon prisoners to embrace the Christian religion, and immediately after they were baptized, ordered their throats to be cut. Their prince, Vitikind, fled for shelter to Gotrick, king of Denmark.] [Footnote 2: 'Adriatic wave:' although Venice was built a considerable time before the era here assigned for the birth of Independence, the republic had not yet attained to any great degree of power and splendour.] [Footnote 3: 'Neptune's wide domain:' the Low Countries, and their revolt from Spain, are here alluded to.] [Footnote 4: 'Uri's rocks:' alluding to the known story of William Tell and his associates.] [Footnote 5: 'Calvi's rocky shore:' the noble stand made by Paschal Paoli, and his associates, against the usurpations of the French king.] * * * * * SONG. 1 While with fond rapture and amaze, On thy transcendent charms I gaze, My cautious soul essays in vain Her peace and freedom to maintain: Yet let that blooming form divine, Where grace and harmony combine, Those eyes, like genial orbs that move, Dispensing gladness, joy, and love, In all their pomp assail my view, Intent my bos
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   >>  



Top keywords:
Footnote
 

Nature

 

Independence

 
associates
 

republic

 

assigned

 

domain

 

Countries

 

revolt

 

Neptune


attained

 
degree
 

splendour

 
baptized
 
ordered
 

throats

 

prisoners

 

embrace

 

Christian

 

immediately


religion

 

prince

 

Venice

 

considerable

 

Adriatic

 
Vitikind
 

shelter

 

Gotrick

 

Denmark

 

blooming


divine

 

harmony

 
maintain
 

freedom

 

cautious

 

essays

 

combine

 

assail

 

Intent

 

gladness


genial
 
Dispensing
 

charms

 

thousand

 

William

 
alluding
 

rapture

 
transcendent
 
Paschal
 

usurpations