INDEPENDENCE: AN ODE.
STROPHE.
THY Spirit, INDEPENDENCE, let me share!
Lord of the Lion-Heart and Eagle-Eye,
Thy Steps I follow with my Bosom bare,
Nor heed the Storm that howls along the Sky.
Deep in the frozen Regions of the North,
A Goddess violated brought thee forth,
[Page 8] Immortal LIBERTY, whose look sublime
Hath blanch'd the Tyrant's Cheek in every varying Clime.
What Time the iron-hearted Gaul
With frantic Superstition for his Guide,
Armed with the Dagger and the Pall,
The Sons of Woden to the Field defy'd:
The ruthless Hag, by Weser's flood,
In Heaven's Name urg'd the infernal Blow;
And red the Stream began to flow:
The vanquish'd were baptiz'd with Blood
†!
ANTISTROPHE.
The Saxon Prince in Horror fled
From Altars stain'd with human Gore;
And Liberty his routed Legions led
In Safety to the bleak Norwegian Shore.
There in a Cave asleep she lay,
Lull'd by the hoarse-resounding Main;
When a bold Savage past that Way,
Impell'd by Destiny, his Name
Disdain.
Of ample Front the portly Chief appear'd:
The hunted Bear supplied a shaggy Vest;
The drifted Snow hung on his yellow Beard;
And his broad Shoulders brav'd the furious Blast.
[Page 10] He stopt; he gazed; his Bosom glow'd,
And deeply felt th' Impression of her Charms:
He seiz'd the Advantage Fate allow'd;
And straight compress'd her in his vigorous Arms.
STROPHE.
The Curlieu screamed; the Tritons blew
Their Shells to celebrate the ravish'd Rite;
Old Time exulted as he flew:
And INDEPENDENCE saw the Light.
The Light he saw in Albion's happy Plains,
Where under Cover of a flowering Thorn,
While Philomel renew'd her warbled Strains,
Th' auspicious Fruit of stol'n Embrace was born.
[Page 11] The Mountain Dryads seiz'd with Joy,
The smiling Infant to their Charge consign'd;
The Doric Muse caress'd the favourite Boy;
The Hermit
Wisdom stor'd his opening Mind.
As rolling Years matur'd his Age,
He flourish'd bold and sinewy as his Sire;
While the mild Passions in his Breast assuage
The fiercer Flames of his maternal Fire.
ANTISTROPHE.
Accomplish'd thus, he wing'd his Way,
And zealous rov'd from Pole to Pole,
The Rolls of Right eternal to display,
And warm with Patriot Thoughts the aspiring Soul.
Those Spires that gild the Adriatic Wave,
Where Tyranny beheld amaz'd
Fair Freedom's Temple, where he mark'd her Grave.
He steel'd the blunt Batavian's Arms
To burst the Iberian's double Chain
†;
And Cities rear'd, and planted Farms,
Won from the Skirts of Neptune's wide Domain.
[Page 13] He, with the generous Rustics, sate
On Uri's Rocks in close Divan
*;
And wing'd that Arrow sure as Fate,
Which ascertain'd the sacred Rights of Man.
STROPHE.
Arabia's scorching Sands he crost
†,
Where blasted Nature pants supine,
Conductor of her Tribes adust,
To Freedom's adamantine Shrine;
He snatch'd from under fell Oppression's Wing;
And taught, amidst the dreary Waste,
Th' all-chearing Hymns of Liberty to sing.
He Virtue finds, like precious Ore,
Diffus'd through every baser Mould;
Even now he stands on Calvi's rocky Shore,
And turns the Dross of Corsica to Gold
†.
[Page 15] He, Guardian Genius, taught my Youth
Pomp's tinsel Livery to despise:
My Lips, by him chastis'd to Truth,
Ne'er paid that Homage which the Heart denies.
ANTISTROPHE.
Those sculptur'd Halls my Feet shall never tread,
Where varnish'd Vice and Vanity combin'd,
To dazzle and seduce, their Banners spread,
And forge vile Shackles for the free-born Mind.
Where Insolence his wrinkled Front uprears;
And all the Flowers of spurious Fancy blow;
And Title his ill-woven Chaplet wears,
Full often wreath'd around the Miscreant's Brow:
[Page 16] Wherever dimpling Falshood, pert and vain,
Presents her Cup of stale Profession's Froth;
And pale Disease, with all his bloated Train,
Torments the Sons of Gluttony and Sloth.
STROPHE.
In Fortune's Car behold that Minion ride,
With either India's glittering Spoils opprest:
So moves the Sumpter-Mule, in harness'd Pride,
That bears the Treasure which he cannot taste.
For him let venal Bards disgrace the Bay;
And hireling Minstrels wake the tinkling String;
Her sensual Snares let faithless Pleasure lay;
And all her gingling Bells fantastic Folly ring:
[Page 17] 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 baleful Pinions of Disgust.
ANTISTROPHE.
Nature I'll court in her sequester'd Haunts,
By Mountain, Meadow, Streamlet, Grove, or Cell,
Where the pois'd 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;
And Toil and Temperance sedately twine
The slender chord that fluttering Life sustains:
[Page 18] And fearless Poverty shall guard the Door;
And Taste unspoil'd the frugal Table spread;
And Industry supply the humble Store;
And Sleep unbrib'd his Dews refreshing shed:
White-mantl'd Innocence, etherial Spright,
Shall chace far off the Goblins of the Night:
And INDEPENDENCE o'er the Day preside;
Propitious Power! my Patron and my Pride.
FINIS.