.

(_To my Native Land._)

My native land, whose fertile ground
Neptune and Amphitrite bound,--
Britain, of trade the chosen mart,
The seat of industry and art,--
May never luxury or minister
Cast over thee a mantle sinister!
Still let thy fleet and cannon's roar
Affright thy foes and guard thy shore.
When Continental States contend,
Be thou to them a common friend.
Imperial rule may sway their land;
Here Commerce only takes her stand,
Diffusing good o'er all the world.
The flag of Commerce, where unfurled,
Stands with fair plenty in her train,
And wealth, to bless her bright domain.
For where the merchant sails to trade
Fair is the face of Nature made.
Glad is the king, in regal dome;
Glad is the rustic, in his home;
The flocks and culture glad the fields,
And Peace her boon of plenty yields.
For Nature meant that man should share
The goods abounding everywhere,
And barter corn, and oil, and wine;
The iron ore and twisted twine,
Cotton and silk, deep-bedded coal,
Be interchanged from pole to pole.
So each land's superfluities
Should bind lands by commercial ties;
And carry, from abounding stores,
The luxuries of distant shores.
The monarch and the rustic eat
Of the same harvest, the same wheat;
The artizan supplies the vest,
The mason builds the roof of rest;
The self-same iron-ores afford
The coulter of the plough and sword;
And all, from cottage to the throne,
Their common obligation own
For private and for public cause,
Protecting property and laws.

The animals were once distressed
By bitter famine, and addressed
Themselves to man to find them food,
And bound themselves in servitude;
For, whilst they starved, or whilst they fed,
Man had his lasting hoards of bread.

The cat demanded leave to sue,
"Well, Puss," says Man, "and what can you do?"
"Scatter the rats and mice," said Tib;
"And guard your grain in sack or crib.
Foe am I of the _genus Mus_,
Absurdly called '_ridiculus_;'
Dan AEsop called him so, not I;
Feed me, and every mouse shall die."

Then to the starving hound, Man said:
"Well, sir, and how can you earn bread?"

"My name is Trusty," said the hound;
"And ne'er was I untrusty found.
I am not used, by self-applause,
To pande