Page:The Poems of John Dyer (1903).djvu/40

 Their leafy brows sustain; fair Corinth first Boasted their order, which Callimachus (Reclining studious on Asopus' banks Beneath an urn of some lamented nymph) Haply compos'd; the urn with foliage curl'd Thinly conceal'd the chapiter inform'd. See the tall obelisks from Memphis old, One stone enormous each, or Thebes, convey'd; Like Albion's spires they rush into the skies: And there the temple where the summon'd state In deep of night conven'd; ev'n yet methinks The veh'ment orator in rent attire Persuasion pours; Ambition sinks her crest; And, lo! the villain, like a troubled sea, That tosses up her mire! Ever disguis'd Shall Treason walk? shall proud Oppression yoke The neck of Virtue? Lo! the wretch abash'd, Self-betray'd Catiline! O Liberty! Parent of happiness, celestial born; When the first man became a living soul His sacred genius thou: be Britain's care; With her secure prolong thy lov'd retreat; Thence bless mankind; while yet among her sons, Ev'n yet there are, to shield thine equal laws, Whose bosoms kindle at the sacred names Of Cecil, Raleigh, Walsingham, and Drake. May others more delight in tuneful airs, In mask and dance excel; to sculptur'd stone Give with superior skill the living look; More pompous piles erect, or pencil soft With warmer touch the visionary board: But thou thy nobler Britons teach to rule, To check the ravage of tyrannic sway, To quell the proud, to spread the joys of peace, And various blessings of ingenious trade.