Hast thou not seen th’ insulting foe In fancied triumphs crown’d? And heard their frantic rulers throw These empty threats around? “Make now YOUR CHOICE! The terms we give, Desponding Britons, hear! These fetters on your hands receive, Or in your hearts the spear.” Can we forget our old renown; Resign the empire of the sea; And yield at once our sovereign’s crown, Our ancient laws and liberty? Shall thus the fierce destroyer’s hand Pass unresisted o’er our native land? Our country sink, to barb’rous force a prey, And _ransom’d_ ENGLAND bow to _Gallic_ sway? II. “Is then the contest o’er?” we cried, “And lie we at your feet? And dare you vauntingly decide The fortune we shall meet? A brighter day we soon shall see; No more the prospect lours; And Conquest, Peace, and Liberty Shall gild our future hours.” Yes! we will guard our old renown; Assert our empire o’er the sea; And keep untouch’d our sovereign’s crown, Our ancient laws and liberty. Not thus the fierce destroyer’s hand Shall scatter ruin o’er this smiling land; No barb’rous force shall here divide its prey; Nor _ransom’d_ ENGLAND bow to _Gallic_ sway. III. The foe advance. In firm array We’ll rush o’er Albion’s sands— Till the red sabre marks our way Amid their yielding bands! Then as they lie in death’s cold grasp, We’ll cry, “OUR CHOICE IS MADE! These hands the sabre’s hilt shall clasp, Your hearts shall feel the blade”. Thus Britons guard their ancient fame, Assert their empire o’er the sea, And to the envying world proclaim, One nation still is brave and free— Resolv’d to conquer or to die, True to their KING, their LAWS, their LIBERTY: No barb’rous foe finds here an easy prey— _Un-ransom’d_ ENGLAND spurns all foreign sway.[25] The following poem has been transmitted to us, without preface or introduction, by a gentleman of the name of IRELAND.[26] We apprehend from the peculiarities of the style, that it must be the production of a remote period. We are likewise inclined to imagine, that it may contain allusions to some former event in English history. What that event may have been, we must submit to the better judgment and superior information of our readers, from whom we impatiently expect a solution of this interesting question. The editor has been influenced solely by a sense of its poetical merit.