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940

With confidence unbounded, fearless love
Elate, her fervent peopl waited gay,
Chearful demanded the long-threatened Fleet,
And dath'd the pride of Spain around their ifle.
Nor ceas'd the British thunder here to rage:
The deep, reclaim'd, obey'd its awful call;
In fire and fmoak Iberian ports involv'd,
The trembling foe e'en to the centre shook
Of their new conquer'd world, and fculking tole
By vecring winds, their Indian treasure home.
Mean time, peace, plenty, justice, fcience, arts,
With fofter laure's crown'd her happy reign 946
As yet uncircumfcrib'd the regal power,
Aud wild and vague Prerogative remain'd,
A wide voracious gulf, where fwallow'd oft'
The helpiefs fubject lay. This to reduce
To the just limit was My great effort.

By means that evil feems to narrow man,
Superior beings work their mystic will:
Fom form and trouble thus a fettled calm
At last, effulgent, o'er Britannia fimil'd.

930

955

The gathering tempeft, Heaven-commiffion'd

came,

Came in the Prince who, drunk with flattery,

dreamt

His vain pacific counfels rul'd the world;
Tho' fcoru'd abroad, bewilder'd in a maze
Of fruitlefs treaties, while at home enflav'd, 960
And by a worthlefs crew infatiate, drain'd,
He loft his peoples' confidence and love:
Irreparable lofs whence crowns become
An anxious burden. Years inglorious prefs'd;
Triumphant Spain he vengeful draught enjoy'd;
Abandon'd Frederick pin'd, and Raleigh bled:
But nothing that to thefe internal broils.

970

bat rancour, he began that lawless Sway
He, with his flavish Doctors try'd to rear,
On meatphyfic, en enchanted ground,
And all the many quibbles of the schools!
As if for one, and fometimes for the worft,
Heaven had mankind in vengeance only made.
Vain the preterce! not fo the dire effe&t,
The fierce, the foolish, difcord thence deriv'd,
That tears the country ftill, by party-rage
And minifterial clamour kept alive.
In adion weak, and for the wordy war
Bel fitted, faint this prince purfu'd his claim:
Content to teach the fubject-herd how great,
How facred he! how despicable they!

981

985

But his unyielding fon thefe doctrines drank
With all a bigot's rage, (who never damps
By reafoning his fire,) and what they taught,
Warm and tenacious, into practice pufh'd.
Senates, in vain, their kind restraint apply'd:
The more they struggled to fupport the laws,
His juftice-dreading ministers the more
Drove him beyond their bound. Tir'd with the
check

991

Of faithful Love, and with the flattery pleas'd
Of falfe defigning Guilt, the fountain he
Of public Wildon and of Juftice fhut.
Wkkie mourn'd the land. Straight to the voted

ad

Free, cordial, large, of never failing fource,

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Th' illegal impofition follow'd harsh,
With execration given, or ruthless (queez'd
From an infulted people, by a band
Of the worst ruffians, those of tyrant power.
Oppreffion walk'd at large, and pour d abroad
Her unrelenting train, informers, fpies,
Bloodhounds, that turdy Freedom to the grove
Commerce to load for unprotected feas,
Purfue; projectors of aggrieving fchemes,
To fell the ftarving many to the few,
E'en from that place whence healing peace fhould
And drain a thousand ways th' exhausted land.
flow,

1006

And gospel truth, inhuman bigots shed
Their poifon round; and on the venai bench,
Instead of Juftice, Party held the fcale,
And Violence the fword. Afflicted years, 1010
Too patient, felt at last their vengeance full.

Mid the low murmurs of fubmiffive fear
And mingled rage, My Hampden rais'd his
voice,

And to the laws appeal'd; the laws no more
In judgment fate behov'd fome other ear; 1015
By long oppreffion, by religion rous'd,
When inftant from the keen refentive North,
The guardian army came. Beneath its wing
Was call'd, tho' meant to furnish hoftile aid,
The more than Roman fenate. There à flame

Broke out, that clear'd, confum'd, renew'd the

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In deep emotion hurl'd, nor Greece, nor Rone,
Indignant bursting from a tyrant's chain,
Strung every nerve, and flani'd in every eye, 1025
While, full of Me, each agitated foul
Had e'er beheld fuch light and heat combin'd!
Such heads and hearts! fuch dreadful zeal, led on
By calm majestic ifdom, taught its course
What nuifance to devour; fuch wifdom fir'd
With unabating zeal, and aim'd fincere
To clear the weedy ftate, restore the laws,
And for the future to fecure their fway.

го

This, then, the purpose of My mildest fons:
But man is blind. A nation once inflam'd
(Chicf fhould the breath of factions Fury blow,
With the wild rage of mad enthufiaft fwell'd)
Not ealy cools again. From breast to breast,
From eye eye, the k udling paffions mix
In heighten'd blaze, and, ever wife and just,
High Heaven to gracious ends directs the form,
Thus in one conflagration Britain wrapt, 1041
And by Confufion's lawlefs fons defpoil'd,
Kings, Lords, and Commons, thundering to the
ground,

Succeffive, ruth'd-Lo! from their ashes rofe,
Gay-beaming radient youth, the Phenix-ftate.

Of private life, ay by thofe flames diffolv'd;
The grievous yoke of vaffalage, the yoke 1046
And from the wafteful, the luxurious king,
Was purchas'd that which taught the young to
bend.

And built on that eternal rock their power. 105 £
Stronger reflor'd, the Commons tax'd the whole,
The crown, of its hereditary wealth
Defpoil d, on Senates more dependant grew.

And they more frequent, more affur'd. Yet liv'd, And in full vigour ipread that better root, 1055 The paffive doctrines, by their patrons first Oppos'd ferocious, when they touch themfelves.

1060

This wild delusive cant, the rash cabal Of hungry courtiers, ravenous for prey, The bigot, reftiefs in a double chain To bind a-new the land, the conftant need Of finding faithlefs means, of shifting forms, And flattering fenates to firpply his waste; Thefe tore fome moments from the carelefs Prince, And in his breaft awak'd the kindred plan. 1065 By dangerous fostness long he min'd his way; By fubtle arts, diffimulation deep; By fharing what Corruption fhower'd profufe; By breathing wide the gay licentious plague, And pleafing manners, fitted to deceive.

1070

1075

At last fubfided the delirious joy, On whofe high billow, from the faintly reign, The nation drove too far. A penfion'd king, Against his country brib'd by Gallic gold, The port pernicious fold, the Scylla fince, And fell Charybdis, of the British feas; Freedom attack'd abroad, with furer blow To cut it off at home; the Saviour League Of Europe broke; the progrefs e'en advanc'd Of univerfal Sway, which to reduce Such feas of blood and treasure Britain coft; The millions by a generous people given, Or fquander'd vile, or to corrupt, difgrace, And awe the land with forces not their own, Employ'd; the darling Church herself betray'd; All thefe, broad glaring, op'd the general eye, And wak'd My fpirit, the refitting foul.

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Mild was, at firit, and half-afham'd, the check,
Of fenates, fhook from the fantaflic dream
Of abfolute fubmiflion, tencts vile! 1099
Which flaves would bluth to own, and which
reduc'd

To practice, always honeft Nature shock.
Not e'en the mask remov'd, and the fierce front
Of Tyranny difclos'd, nor trampled laws,
Nor feiz d each badge of Freedom thro' the land,
Nor Sidney bleeding for th' unpublish'd page,
Nor on the bench avow'd Corruption plac'd, 1097
And murderous Rage itfelf, in Jefferies' form,
Nor endless að or abitrary power,
Cruel and falfe, could raife the public arm. 1100
Ditrustful, fcatter'd, of combining chiefs
Devoid, and dreading blind rapacious War,
The patient Public turns not, till impeli'd
To the near verge of ruin. Hence i rous'd
The bigot king, and hurry'd fated on
His mcafures immature. But chief his zeal,
Our flaming Rome herfelf, portentous fear'd
The troubled nation: Mary's horrid days
To fancy bleeding rofe, and the dire glare
Of Smithfield lighten'd in its eyes anew.
Yet filence reign'd. Each on anothers fcowl'd
Rueful amazement, prefling down his rage;
As, muftering vengeance, the deep thunder
frowns,

Awfully fill, waiting the high command

1105

1110

To fpring. Straight from his country, Europe fav'd,

1116

To fave Britannia, lo my darling fon,
Than hero more! the patriot of mankind!
Immortal Naffau came. I hush'd the deep,
By demons rous'd, and bade the lifted winds,
Still fhifting as behov'd, with various breath, 1120
Waft the Deliverer to the longing fhore
See! wide alive, the foaming channel bright
With fwelling fails, and all the pride of War,
Delightful view! when Juftice draws the fword:
And mark! diffufing ardent foul around, 1125
And fweep contempt of death, My streaming flag,
E'en adverse navies blefs'd the binding gale,
Kept down the glad acclaim, and flent joy'd.
Arriv'd, the pomp, and not the wafte of arms.
His progrefs mark'd. The faint oppofing hoft
For once in yielding their best victory found, 1131
And by defertion prov'd exalted faith;
White his, the bloodless conqueft of the heart,
Shouts without groan, and triumph without war.

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yield

Deltructive power, a wife heroic prince
E'en lent his aid.-Thrice happy! did they know
Their happiness, Britannia's bounded kings. 146
What tho' not theirs the boaft, in dungeon glooms
To plunge bold Freedom? or to chearlefs wilds
To drive him from the cordial face of friends?
Or fierce to ftrike him at the midnight hour,
By mandate blind, not Juice, that delights
To dare the keeneft eye of open day?
What the no glory to controul the laws,
And make injurious will their only rule,
They deem it? what tho', tools of wanton power,
Peftiferous armies fwarm not at their cal!? 1156
what tho' they give not a relentless crew
Of Civil Furies proud Oppreffion's fangs?
To tear at pleasure the dejected land,
With tarving Labour pampering idle Wate?
To clothe the naked, feed the hungry, wipe
The guiltless tear from lone Afliction's eye!
To raise hid Merit, fet the alluring light
Of Virtue high to view; to nourish arta,
Direct the thunder of an i jur'd flate,
Make a whole glorious people fing for joy,

1165

1170

Blefs human kind, and thr the downward depth
Of future times to fpread that better fun
Which lights up Britifh fouls: for deeds like these
The dazzling fair career unbounded lies -
While (till fuperior bifs!) the dark abrupt
Is kindly barr'd, the precipice of ill.
Oh luxury divine! Oh! poor to this,
Ye giddy glories of defpatic 1hrones!
By this, by this indeed, is imag'd Heaven, 1175
By boundless good, without the power of ill.

And now, behold! exalted as the cope
That fwells immenfe o'er many-peopled earth,

494

And like it free, My fabric ftands complete,
The Palace of the Laws to the four heavens, 1180
Four gates impartial thrown, unceasing crowds,
With kings themselves the hearty pealant mix'd,
Pour urgent in; and the to different ranks
Refponfive place belongs, yet equal spreads
The fhelt'ring roof o'er all; while Plenty flows,
And glad Contentment echoes round the whole.
Ye Floods! defcend; ye winds! confirming, blow;
Nor outward tempeft, nor corrofive time,
Nought but the felon undermining hand

Of dark Corruption, can-its frame diffolve, 1190.
Aad lay the toil of ages into dust.

THE PROSPECT.

LIBERTY.

PART V.

THE CONTENTS.

THE Author addresses the Goddess of Liberty; marking the happines and grandeur of Great Britain, as arifing from her influence, to ver. 88. She refumes her difcourfe, and points out the chief virtues which are neceffary to maintain her eftablishment there, to ver. 374. Recommends, as its laft ornament and finifhing, Sciences, fine Arts, and public Works. The encouragement of thefe urg'd from the example of France, though under a defpotic government, to ver. 549. The whole concludes with a profpect of future times, given by the Goddess of Liberty; this defcribed by the Author, as it paffes in Vifion before him.

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HERE interpofing, as the goddefs paus d,

"Oh! blea Britannia! in thy prefence bleft. Thou guardian of mankind! whence 1pring, alone,

5

All human grandeur, happinefs, and fame: "For Toil, by the protected, feels no pain; "The poor man's lot with milk and honey flows; And, gilded with thy rays, e'en death looks gay. "Let other lands the potent bleflings boat "Of more exalting funs: let Afia's woods, Untended, yield the vegetable fleece; And let the little infect artif form, "On higher life intent, its filken tomb : "Let wondering rocks, in radiant birth, difclofe "The various tinctur'd children of the Sun "From the prone beam let more delicious fruits

66

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ΙΟ

A flavour drink, that in one piercing taste 15 "Bids cach combine; let Gallic vineyards burit "With floods of joy; with mild Falfamic juice "The Tutcan olive; let Arabia breathe "Her fpicy gales, her vitalpums ditil:

19

Turbid with gold, let fouthern rivers flow,
And orient foods draw lolt o'er pearls, their

maze:

"Let Afric vaunt her treafures: let Peru

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"Autumnal feas of pleafing plenty round.
"Thefe her delights; and by no baneful herb,
"No darting tiger, no grim liens glare,

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No fierce-delcending wolf, no ferpent, roll'd
In fpires immenfe progreffive o'er the land, 46
"Diflurb'd. Enlivening thefe, add cities full
"Of wealth, of trade, of chearful toiling crowds;
"Add thriving towns; add villages and farms,
Innumerous fow'd along the lively vale,
"Where bold unrivall'd peasants happy dwell:
50
"Add ancient feats, with venerable oaks
"I mbofom'd high, while kindred floods below
"Wind thro' the mead; and thofe of modern hand
"More pompous, add, that fplendid fhine afar.
"Need her limpid lakes, her rivers, name, 56
"Where fwarm'd the finny race? Thee, chief,
O Thames!

"On whofe each tide, glad with returning fails,
Flows in the mingled harveft of mankind?
"And thee, thou Severn! whole prodigious
fwell,
60.

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Forming of life art-civiliz'd the bend;
"And that the Tytian merchant fought of old,
"Not dreaming then of Britain's brighter fame.
"She rears to Freedom an undaunted race:
Compatriot zealous, hofpitable, kind,
"Her's the warm Cambrian: her's the lofty Scot,
"To hardship tam'd, active in arts and arms,
"Fir'd with a reflefs an impatient Bame,
"That leads him raptur'd where Ambition calls:
75
And English Merit her's, where meet, com-
bir'd,

"Whate'er high fancy, found judicious thought,
"An ample generous heart, un rooping foul,
"And firm tenacious valeur, can bettow.

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er Great nurfe of fruits, of flocks, of commerce, | Philofophy, companion ever new.

fhe! "Great nurse of men! By Thee, O Goddess!

taught,

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"Her old renown Itrace, disclose her fource
Of wealth, of grandeur, and to Britons fing
A ftrain the Mufes never touch'd before."
"But how shall this thy mighty Kingdom
ftand?

85

"On what unyielding base? how finish'd fhine?"
At this her eye, collecting all its fire,
Beam'd more then human; and her awful voice
Majestic thus he rais'd -" To Britons bear go
"This clofing ftrain, and with intenfer note

95

Loud let it found in their awaken'd ear."
On Virtue can alone My Kingdom Rand,
On Public Virtue, every Virtue join'd;
For loft this fociai cement of mankind,
The greatell empires, by fearce felt degrees,
Will moulder foft away, till, tottering loose,
They prone at laft to total ruin ruth.
Unbleft by Virtue, Government a league
Becomes, a circling junto of the great,
To rob by law; Religion mild a yoke
To tame the flooping foul, a trick of state
To mark their rapine, and to fhare the prey.
What are without it Senates, fave a face
Of confultation deep and reafon free,
While the determin'd voice and heart are fold?
What boasted Freedom, fave a founding name?
And what Election, huta market vile

100

105

JIO

Of flaves felf-barter'd? Virtue! without thee
There is no ruling eye, no nerve, in states;
War has no vigour, and no fafety peace:
F'en justice warps to party, laws opprefs,
Wide thro' the land their weak-protection fails;
First broke the balance, and then fcorn'd the fword.
Thus nations fink, focięty diffolves;
Rapine, and Guile, and Violence, break loofe,
115
Everting life, and turping love to ga!!;
Man hates the face of man, and Indian woods
And Libya's hiffing fands to him are tame.

By thofe three virtucs be the frame fuftain'd
Of British Freedom; Independent Life;
Integrity in Office; and, o'er all

121

Supreme, A Paffion for the Common-weal.
Hail, independence! hail! Heaven's next beft
gift,

125

To that of life and an immortal foul!
The life of life! that to the banquet high
And fober meal gives tafte; to the bow'd roof
Fair-dream'd repofe, and to the cottage charms.
Of public Freedom, hail, thou fecret Source!
Whofe ftreams, from every quarter confluent

form

131

My better Nile, that nurfes human life..
By rills from thee deduc'd, irriguous fed,
The private field looks gay, with Nature's wealth
Abundant flows, and bloom with each delight
That Nature craves.
The only Freeman, walks his pleasing round,
Its happy mafter there,
Sweet-featur'd Peace attending; fearless Truth,
Firm Refolution; Goodnefs, blefling all
That can rejoice; Contentment, fureft friend;
And, ftill fresh stores from Nature's book deriv'd,

495

141

145

These cheer his rural, and fuftain or fire,
When into action call'd, his busy hours.
Mean time true judging moderate defires,
Economy and tafte, combin'd, direct
His clear affairs, and from debauching fiends
Whom Fortune heaps, without these Virtues,
Secure his little kingdom. Nor can thofe
That truce with pain, that animated ease,
reach
That felf-enjoyment fpringing from within, 150
Which makes the foundest blifs of man below;
That Independence, active or retir'd,
But, loft beneath the rubbish of their means,
And drain'd by wants to Nature all unknown,
A wandering, taftclefs, gaily-wretched train; 155
Tho' rich, are beggars, and tho' noble, flaves.

Lo damn'd to wealth, at what a grofs expence
They purchase disappointment, pain, and shame!
Inftead of hearty hofpitable cheer,

160

See how the hall with brutal riot flows!
While in the foaming flood, fermenting, steep'd,
The country maddens into party-rage.
Mark thofe difgraceful piles of wood and ftone,
Thofe parks and gardens, where, his haunts be-
trimm'd,

175

180

And Nature by prefumptuous Art opprefs'd, 165
The woodland Genius mourns.
That fteams difguit, and bowls that give no joy;
See the full board
No Truth invited there to feed the mind,
Nor Wit the wine rejoicing reafon quaffs.
Hark how the dome with infolence refounds, 170
With those retain'd by Vanity to scare
Repofe and friends. To tyrant Fashion mark
The coftly worship paid, to the broad gaze
Led an eternal round of lying hope,
Of fools. From fill delufive day to day,
See, felf-abandon'd, how they roam adrift,
Dafh'd o'er the town, a miferable wreck!
Then to adore fome warbling eunuch turn'd,
With Midas' ears they crowd; or to the buzz
Of Masquerade unblushing; or, to show
Their fcorn of Nature, at the Tragic fcene
1hey mirthful fit, or prove the Comic true.
But, chief, behold! around the rattling board,
The tender Fair! each sweetness laid afide, 185
The civil robbers rang'd; and e'en the fair,
As fierce for plunder as all-licens'd troops
In fome fack'd city. Thus diffolv'd their wealth,
Without one generous luxury dissolv'd,
At the throng'd levee bends the venal tribe; 190
Or quarter'd on it many a needlefs want.
Each smooth as thofe that mutually deceive,
With fair but faithlefs fmiles each varnish'd o'er,
And for their falfehood each defpifing cach,
Till hook their patron by the wintry winds,
Wide flies the wither'd fhower, and leaves hin
bare.

O far fuperior Afric's fable fons,

By merchant pilfer'd, to thefe willing flaves!
And rich as uniqeez'd favourite to them,
Is he who can his Virtue boaft alone!

195

Britons! be firm, nor let Corruption fly 200
The iteel of Brutus buzit the groiler bonds
Twine round your heart indiffoluble chains I

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236

240

245

270

Life tedious grows, an idly-busting round,
Fill'd up with action animal and mean,
A dull gazette! Th' impatient reader scorns
The poor hiftoric page, till kindly comes
Oblivion, and redeenis a peoples' fhame.
Not fo the times when, emulation ftung,
Greece fhone in Genius, Science, and in Arts,
And Rome in virtues dreadful to be told!
To live was glory then! and charm'd mankind,
Thro' the deep periods of devolving time 275
Thofe, raptur'd, copy; thofe, afstonish'd, read.
True, a corrupted state, with every vice
And every meannefs foul, this paffion damps.
Who can, unfhock'd, behold the cruel cye?
The pale inveigling fimile? the ruffian front?
The wretch abanden'd to relentless Self,
Equally vile if mifer or profufe?
Powers not of God, afliduous to corrupt?
The fell-deputed tyrant. who devours

281

The poor and weak, at diftance from redrefs?
Delirious Faction bellowing loud My name? 286
The falfe fair-feeming patriot's hollow boaft?
A race refolv'd on bondage, fierce for chains,
My facred rights a merchandife alone
Efteeming, and to work their feeder's will 290
By deeds, a horror to mankind, prepar'd,
As were the dregs of Romulus of old?
But who unpitying? To the generous eye
Who thefe indeed, can undetefting fee:
Diftrefs is virtue; and, tho' felf-betray'd, 295
A people struggling with their fate must roufe
The hero's throb. Nor can a land, at once
Bs lost to virtue quite. How glorious, then!
Fit luxury for gods to fave the good,
Protect the feeble, dah bold Vice afide,
Deprefs the wicked, and restore the frail !
Pofterity, befides, the young are pure,

300

And fons may tinge their father's cheek with

fhame.

Should then the time arrive (which Heaven

avert!)

That Britons bend unnerv'd, not by the force Of arms, more generous, and more manly, quell'd, But by Corruption's foul dejecting arts, Arts impudent and grofs! by their own gold, In part beftow'd to bribe them to give ail; With party raging, or immers'd in fluth, Should they Britannia's well fought laurels yield To flily conquering Gaul, e'en from her brow 250 Let her own naval oak be bafely torn,

is not enough, from seif right understood Reflected, that thy rays inflame the heart; Tho' Virtue not difdains appeals to felf, Dreads not the trial, all her joys are true, Nor is there any real joy fave her's Far lefs the tepid, the declaiming race, Foes to corruption, to its wages friends, Or those whom private paffions, for a while, Beneath My ftandard lift, can they fuffice To raise and fix the glory of My reign: An active flood of univerfal love Muft fwell the breast. First, in effufion wide, The restless spirit roves creation round, And feizes every being; ftronger then, It tends to life, whate'er the kindred fearch Of blif allys; then, more collected still, It urges human-kind; a paffion grown, At lait, the central parent public calls Its utmost effort forth, awakes each fense, The comely, grand and tender. Without this, This awful pant, fkook from fublimer powers Than thofe of Self, this heaven infus'd delight, This moral invitation, rushing forth To prefs the public good, My fyftem foon, Traverfe, to several selfish centres drawn, Will ree! to ruin, while for ever shut Stand the bright portals of defponding Fame. From fordid felf fhoot up the fhining deeds, None of thofe ancient lights that giaddens earth, Give grace to being, and aroufe the brave To just ambition, Virtue's quickening fire! 265

260

310

By fuch as tremble at the stiffening gale,
And nervelels fink while others fing rejoic'd; 315
Or (darker profpe&t! scarce one gleam behind
Difclofing) fhould the broad corruptive plague
Breathe from the city to the farthell hut,
That fits ferene within the foreft-fhade,
The fever'd people fire, inflame their wants 320
And their luxurious thirst, fo gathering rage,
That, were a buyer found, they stand prepar'd
To fell their birthright for a cooling draught;
Should fhameless pens for plain Corruption plead,
The hir'd affaffins of the commonweal!
Deem the declaiming rant of Greece and Rome,
Should Public Virtue grow the public scoff,
Till Private, falling, taggers thro' the land;

325

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