ay
The Judas gang that would her rights betray.
Scorn meets THE FEW who, bought by pandering power,
Outvote the nation's voice in hapless hour.
O pause ere yet that fatal hour is seen!--
Be counsell'd, Lords!--You cannot crush your Queen,
But by a blow that must, with blind intent,
Bruise THRONE and ALTAR in its dire descent!

"O where, ye PRELATES! is your light withdrawn?
Where now the lustral influence of your lawn?[A]
Where the meek crosier, and the crook of fleece,
That guard the fold (not reckless of the peace)?
Is there no wolf in all your pastur'd plains?
No murrain rankling in your lambkins' veins?
No lurking thief, by whom they nightly bleed?
No arid spots refreshing streams that need?
O why, forgetful of your solemn call,
Sit ye, unmindful where the victims fall,
To _hire_ ONE SACRIFICE with cords be bound,
And your anointed hands inflict the wound?
O desecrated thus, by off'rings high
To demon passions!--Foul idolatry!
If such your rites, no LEVITE here I view,
But BAAL'S PRIESTS may leap and shout with you.[B]
O whither urge these bodings of my breast?
Let hope, let charity their flight arrest!
In Britain's SARDIS, surely some remain
Whose courtly robes yet bear no wilful stain!
PRINCES! and PEERS! once more on you I call--
Save! save your tottering glory ere it fall!
If truth, if virtue, to your hearts be dear;
If sounds of sweet content you love to hear;
If generous sons, and daughters chaste, you prize,
And all a happy home's delightful ties;
If just gradation on the social scale
Be worth your care; if rank can aught avail:
If rev'rence for the altar and the throne,
Be yours, and GEORGE the lawful king, you own:
If rights your fathers were combin'd to save,
When Britain's sceptre to his race they gave,
Be justly claim'd, as justly claim'd they are
By every son that British mothers bear:
O save your names from hate, disgrace, and scorn,
HIST'RY'S bequest to ages yet unborn!

"Ah! heard ye not your lion-genius roar,
And shake with mighty tread his ev'ry shore?
Deem not that roar in vain; for it hath found
Redoubl'd echoes all the realm around,
And generous hearts have rous'd them at the sound.
There is a spirit mightier far than yours--
Magnanimous and mild, it much endures:
But urg'd t