There, as he walks, his comprehenfive mind
Surveys the globe, and takes-in all mankind:
While, Britain, for thy fake he wears the crown;
To spread thy power as wide as his renown:
To make thee umpire of contending states,
And poife the balance in the world's debates.
From the fmooth terrafs as he cafts his eye,
And fees the current fea-ward rolling by;
What schemes of commerce rife in his designs!
Pledges of wealth! and unexhausted mines!
Through winds and waves, beneath inclement skies,
Where stars, diftinguish'd by no name, arise,
Our fleets fhall undiscover'd lands explore,
And a new people hear our cannons roar.
The rivers long in ancient ftory fam'd,
Shall flow obfcure, nor with the Thames be nam'd: 52
Nor shall our poets copy from their praise,
And Nymphs and Syrens to thy honour raife;
Nor make thy banks with Tritons shells refound,
Nor bind thy brows with humble fedges round:
But paint thee as thou art; a peopled stream!
The boast of merchants, and the failors theme!
Whose spreading floods unnumber'd ships fustain,
And pour whole towns afloat into the main;
While the redundant feas waft up fresh stores,
The daily tribute of far-diftant fhores.
Back to thy fource I try thy filver-train,
That gently winds through many a fertile plain; 64 Where flocks and lowing herds in plenty feed,
And fhepherds tune at eafe the vocal reed:
Ere yet thy waters meet the briny tide,
And freighted veffels down thy channel ride;
Ere yet thy billows leave their banks behind,
Swell into ftate, and foam before the wind:
Thy fovereign's emblem! in thy course compleat!
When I behold him in his lov'd retreat,
Where rural scenes their pleafing views disclose,
A fylvan deity the monarch shows;
And if he only knew the woods to grace,
To rouze the ftag, and animate the chace:
While every hour, from thence, his high commands,
By fpeedy winds convey'd to various lands,
Control affairs; give weighty councils birth;
And sway the mighty rulers of the earth.
Were he, our island's glory and defence,
To reign unactive, at the world's expence;
Say, generous Craggs, who then should quell the rage
Of lawless faction, and reform the age?
Who should our dear-bought liberties maintain?
Who fix our leagues with France, and treat with Spain ?
Who check the headstrong Swede; affuage the Czar;
Secure our peace, and quench the northern war?
The Turk, though he the Chriftian name defies,
And curfes Eugene, yet from Eugene flies,
His caufe to Brunswick's equity dare trust;
He knows him valiant, and concludes him juft:
He knows his fame in early youth acquir'd,
When turban'd hofts before his fword retir'd.
Thus while his influence to the poles extends,
Or where the day begins, or where it ends,
E 3
Far from our coafts he drives off all alarms;
And those his power protects, his goodness charms.
Great in himself, and undebas'd with pride,
The fovereign lays his regal state afide,
Pleas'd to appear without the bright disguise
Of pomp; and on his inborn worth relies.
His fubjects are his guests; and daily boast
The condefcenfion of their royal host:
While crowds fucceeding crowds on either hand,
A ravish'd multitude, admiring ftand.
His manly wit and fenfe, with candour join'd,
His fpeech with every elegance refin'd,
His winning afpect, his becoming ease,
Peculiar graces all, confpire to please,
And render him to every heart approv'd;
The king refpected, and the man belov'd.
Nor is his force of genius lefs admir'd,
When most from crowds or public cares retir'd,
The learned arts, by turns, admittance find;
At once unbend and exercise his mind.
The fecret springs of Nature, long conceal'd,
And to the wife by flow degrees reveal'd,
(Delightful fearch !) his piercing thought defcries.
Oft through the concave azure of the fkies
His foul delights to range, a boundless space,
Which myriads of celeftial glories grace;
Worlds behind worlds, that deep in æther lye,
And funs, that twinkle to the distant eye;
Or call them stars, on which our fates depend,
And every ruling ftar is Brunfwick's friend.
Soon as the rifing fun shoots o'er the stream,
And gilds the palace with a ruddy beam,
You to the healthful chace attend the king,
And hear the forest with the huntsmen ring:
While in the dufty town we rule the state,
And from Gazettes determine England's fate.
Our groundless hopes and groundless fears prevail,
As artful brokers comment on the mail.
Deafned with news, with politics opprest,
I wish the wind ne'er vary'd from the west.
Secure, on George's councils I rely,
Give up my cares, and Britain's foes defy.
What though cabals are form'd, and impious leagues? Though Rome fills Europe with her dark intrigues? 140 His vigilance, on every state intent,
Defeats their plots, and over-rules th' event.
But whither do my vain endeavours tend?
Or how fhall I my rash attempt defend?
Divided in my choice, from praise to praise
I rove, bewilder'd in the pleasing maze.
One virtue mark'd, another I pursue,
While yet another rifes to my view.
Unequal to the task, too late I find
The growing theme unfinish'd left behind.
Thus, the deluded bee, in hopes to drain
At once the thymy treasure of the plain,
Wide ranging on her little pinions toils,
And skims o'er hundred flowers for one she spoils: When, foon o'erburden'd with the fragrant weight, Homeward the flies, and flags beneath her freight. 156
Departing from DUBLIN. 1726.
EHOLD, Britannia waves her flag on high,
And calls forth breezes from the western sky,
And beckons to her fon, and fmooths the tide,
That does Hibernia from her cliffs divide.
Go, Carteret, go; and, with thee, go along
The nation's bleffing, and the poet's fong;
Loud acclamations, with melodious lays,
The kindest wishes, and fincereft praise.
Go, Carteret, go; and bear my joys away!
So fpeaks the Muse, that fain would bid thee stay:
So spoke the virgin to the youth unkind,
Who gave his vows, and canvafs, to the wind,
And promis'd to return; but never more
Did he return to the Threïcian fhore.
Go, Carteret, go: alas, a tedious while
Haft thou been abfent from thy mother-ifle;
A flow-pac'd train of months to thee and thine,
A flight of moments to a heart like mine,
That feels perfections, and refigns with pain
Enjoyments I may never know again.
O, while mine eye pursues the fading fails,
Smooth roll, ye waves, and fteady breathe, ye gales,
And urge with gentle speed to Albion's ftrand
A houfhold fair, amidst the fairest land,
In every decency of life polite,
A freight of virtues, wafting from my fight:
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