Published as the Act directs March 11788. by T Cadell, Strand.
O whether on the fountain's flowery side,
Whence living waters glide,
Or in the fragrant grove,
Whose shade embosoms peace and love,
New pleasures all our hours employ,
And ravish every sense with every joy!
Great heirs of empire! yet unborn,
Who shall this island late adorn;
A monarch's drooping thought to chear,
Appear! appear! appear!
Spirits of EDWARD III. PHILIPPA his queen, and the BLACK PRINCE his son, arise.
Two habited like mighty warriors old;
A third in whose bright aspect beauty smiles
More soft and feminine. A lucid veil,
From her fair neck dependant floats around,
Light-hovering in the gale.
Belov'd of Heaven, behold a king indeed;
Matchless in arms; in arts of peaceful rule,
A sovereign's truest glory, yet more fam'd,
England's third Edward!-At his fear'd approach,
Proud France, even now, thro' all her dukedoms quakes.
Her Genius sighs: and from th' eternal shore,
The soul of her great Charles, a recent guest,
Looks back to earth, and mourns the distant woes
His realms are doom'd to feel from Edward's wrath.
Beneath his standard, Britain shall go forth,
Array'd for conquest, terrible in glory :
And nations shrink before her. O what deaths,
What desolation shall her vengeance spread,
From engines yet unfound; whose lightnings flash,
Whose thunders roar, amazing, o'er the plain :
As if this king had summon'd from on high
Heaven's dread artillery to fight his battle!
Nor is renown in war his sole ambition :
A nobler passion labours in his breast――
Alfred attend-to make his people blest!
The sacred rights that reason loudly claims
For free-born men-these, Alfred, are his care:
Oft to confirm, and fix them on the base
Of equal laws.-O father of mankind!
Successive praises from a grateful land
Shall saint thy name for ever!
Whom angels thus enlighten and inspire,
My bosom kindles at thy heaven-born flame.
Great Edward! Be thy conquests and their praise
Unrival'd to thyself. But O thy fame
For care paternal of the public weal!
For England blest at home-my rapt heart pants To equal that renown!
A sovereign's great example forms a people.
The public breast is noble, or is vile,
As he inspires it. In this Edward's time,
Warm'd by his courage, by his honour rais'd,
High flames the British spirit like the sun,
To shine o'er half the globe: and where it shines,
The cherish'd world to brighten and enrich.
Last see this monarch in his hour of leisure;
Even social on a throne, and tasting joys
To solitary greatness seldom known,
As friend, as husband, and as father blest.
That god-like youth remark, his eldest hope,
Who gives new lustre to the name he bears;
A hero ere a man.-
-I see him now
On Cressy's glorious plain! The father's heart,
With anxious love and wonder at his daring,
Beats high in mingled transport. Great himself,
Great above jealousy, the guilty mark
That brands all meaner minds, see, he applauds
The filial excellence, and gives him scope
To blaze in his full brightness !-Lo, again
He sends him dreadful to a nobler field:
The danger and the glory all his own!
A captive king, the rival of his arms,
I see adorn his triumph! Heaven! what grace,
What splendor from his gracious temper mild
That triumph draws! As gentle mercy kind,
He chears the hostile prince whose fall he weeps!
A son so rich in virtues, and so grac'd
With all that gives those virtues fair to shine, When I would ask of Heaven some mighty boon, Should claim the foremost place.
What to thy infant sons from thee is due,
As parent and as prince.
Forgive me, Hermit,
Forgive a queen and wife her anxious fondness.
Yon beauteous shade, that as I gaze her o'er,
My wonder draws, escapes your graver thought.
O bright Eltruda! thou whose blooming youth,
Whose amiable sweetness promise blessings
To Alfred and to England! see, and mark,
In yonder pleasing form, the best of wives,
The happiest too, repaid with all the faith,
With all the friendship, love and duty claim.
She, powerful o'er the heart her charms enslave-
O virtue rarely practis'd!—uses nobly
That happy influence; to prompt each purpose
Fair honour kindles in her Edward's breast.
Amid the pomps, the pleasures of a court,
Humble of heart, severely good; the friend
Of modest worth, the parent of the poor.
Eltruda! O transmit these noblest charms
To that fair daughter, that unfolding rose,
With which, as on this day*, Heaven crown'd your loves.
Spirit of ELIZABETH arises.
Say, who is she, in whom the noble graces,
Th' engaging manner, dignity, and ease,
Are join'd with manly sense and resolution?
* This masque was written to be acted at Cliffden, on the birth-day of her royal highness the princess Augustam Dig
|