His brawny arm shall drudging Labour strain, And for our pleasure suffer daily pain: Trade shall for us exert her utmost powers, Hers all the toil, and all the profit ours: For us, the oak shall from his native steep Descend, and fearless travel through the deep: 470 The sail of commerce, for our use unfurl'd, Shall waft the treasures of each distant world: For us, sublimer heights shall science reach; For us, their statesman plot, their churchmen preach: Their noblest limbs of council we'll disjoint, And, mocking, new ones of our own appoint. Devouring War, imprison'd in the North, Shall, at our call, in horrid pomp break forth, And when, his chariot-wheels with thunder hung, Fell Discord braying with her brazen tongue, 480 Death in the van, with Anger, Hate, and Fear, And Desolation stalking in the rear, Revenge, by Justice guided, in his train, He drives impetuous o'er the trembling plain, Shall, at our bidding, quit his lawful prey, And to meek, gentle, generous Peace give way. Think not, my sons, that this so bless'd estate Stands at a distance on the roll of fate; Already big with hopes of future sway, E'en from this cave I scent my destined prey. 490 Think not that this dominion o'er a race, Whose former deeds shall time's last annals grace, In the rough face of peril must be sought, And with the lives of thousands dearly bought: No--fool'd by cunning, by that happy art Which laughs to scorn the blundering hero's heart, Into the snare shall our kind neighbours fall With open eyes, and fondly give us all. When Rome, to prop her sinking empire, bore Their choicest levies to a foreign shore, 500 What if we seized, like a destroying flood, Their widow'd plains, and fill'd the realm with blood; Gave an unbounded loose to manly rage, And, scorning mercy, spared nor sex, nor age? When, for our interest too mighty grown, Monarchs of warlike bent possessed the throne, What if we strove divisions to foment, And spread the flames of civil discontent, Assisted those who 'gainst their king made head, And gave the traitors refuge when they fled? 510 When restless Glory bade her sons advance, And pitch'd her standard in the fields of France, What if, disdaining oaths,--an empty sound, By which our nation never shall be bound,-- Bravely we taught unmuzzled War to roam, Through the weak land, and brought cheap laurels home? When the bold traitors, leagued for the defence Of law, religion, liberty, and sense, When they against their lawful monarch rose, And dared the Lord's anointed to oppose, 520 What if we still revered the banish'd race, And strove the royal vagrants to replace; With fierce rebellions shook the unsettled state, And greatly dared, though cross'd by partial fate? These facts, which might, where wisdom held the sway, Awake the very stones to bar our way, There shall be nothing, nor one trace remain