The internal evidence--and on this alone the question must now be argued--seems to us conclusive in Thomson’s favour. The Ode is simply a translation into lyrics of what finds embodiment in Thomson’s _Britannia_, in the fourth and fifth parts of _Liberty_, and in his Verses to the Prince of Wales. Coming to details, there can be no doubt that the third stanza-- “Still more majestic shalt thou rise, More dreadful from each foreign stroke; As the loud blast that tears the skies Serves but to root thy native oak”-- was suggested by Horace’s “Duris ut ilex tonsa bipennibus Nigræ feraci frondis in Algido, Per damna, per cædes, ab ipso Ducit opes animumque ferro.” Now, not only was Horace, as innumerable imitations and reminiscences prove, one of Thomson’s favourite poets, but Thomson has, in the third part of _Liberty_ translated this very passage:-- “Like an oak, Nurs’d on feracious Algidum, whose boughs Still stronger shoot beneath the rigid axe By loss, by slaughter, from the steel itself E’en force and spirit drew.” He has, elsewhere, two other reminiscences of the same passage, once in the third part of _Liberty_-- “Every tempest sung Innoxious by, or bade it firmer stand”-- and once in _Sophonisba_ (Act V. sc. ii.):-- “Thy rooted worth Has stood these wintry blasts, grown stronger by them.” The epithet “azure” employed in the first stanza is, with “cerulean” and “aerial,” one of the three commonest epithets in Thomson, the three occurring at least twenty times in his poetry. A somewhat cursory examination of his works has enabled us to find that “azure” or “azured” alone occurs ten times. “Generous,” too, in the Latin sense of the term, is another of his favourite words, it being used no less than sixteen times in _Britannia_ and _Liberty_ alone. Another of his favourite allusions is to England’s “native oaks.” Thus in _Britannia_ he speaks of-- “Your oaks, peculiar harden’d, shoot Strong into sturdy growth;” in the last part of _Liberty_ we find “Let her own naval oak be basely torn,” and in the same part of the poem he speaks of the “venerable oaks” and “kindred floods.” The epithet “manly” and the phrase “the fair”--“manly hearts to guard the fair”--are also peculiarly Thomsonian, being repeatedly employed by him, the phrase “the fair” occurring in his poetry at least six times, if not oftener. “Flame,” too, is another of his favourite words. “All their attempts to bend thee down Will but arouse,” etc., is exactly the sentiment in _Britannia_. “Your hearts Swell with a sudden courage, growing still As danger grows.” The stanza beginning “To thee belongs,” etc., is simply a lyrical paraphrase of the passage in _Britannia_ commencing “Oh first of human blessings,” and of a couplet in the last part of _Liberty_:--