Page:England and Spain.pdf/13



Where'er thy smile its magic power bestows, There arts and taste expand, there fancy glows; The sacred lyre its wild enchantment gives, And every chord to swelling transport lives; There ardent Genius bids the pencil trace The soul of beauty, and the lines of grace; With bold Promethean hand, the canvass warms, And calls from stone expression's breathing forms. Thus, where the fruitful Nile o'erflows its bound, Its genial waves diffuse abundance round, Bid Ceres laugh o'er waste and sterile sands, And rich profusion clothe deserted lands.

Immortal Freedom! daughter of the skies! To thee shall Britain's grateful incense rise. Ne'er, goddess! ne'er forsake thy favourite isle, Still be thy Albion brighten'd with thy smile! Long had thy spirit slept in dead repose, While proudly triumph'd thine insulting foes;