Humbly I offer up our holier prayer!
I pray Thee, not in wrath

But in thy mercy, to confound
These men's devices. Lord!

Lighten their darkness with thy Gospel light,
And thus abate their pride,

Assuage their malice thus!

Keswick, 1821.

ODE

WRITTEN AFTER THE KING'S VISIT TO SCOTLAND.

1.

AT length hath Scotland seen
The presence long desired;
The pomp of royalty

Hath gladden'd once again

Her ancient palace, desolate how long!
From all parts far and near,

Highland and lowland, glen and fertile carse,
The silent mountain lake, the busy port,
Her populous cities, and her pastoral hills,
In generous joy convened

By the free impulse of the loyal heart
Her sons have gather'd, and beheld their King.

2.

Land of the loyal, as in happy hour
Revisited, so was thy regal seat

In happy hour for thee

Forsaken, under favouring stars, when James
His valediction gave,
And great Eliza's throne
Received its rightful heir,
The Peaceful and the Just.

3.

A more auspicious union never Earth
From eldest days had seen,

Than when, their mutual wrongs forgiven,
And gallant enmity renounced
With honour, as in honour foster'd long,
The ancient Kingdoms formed
Their everlasting league.

4.

Slowly by time matured
A happier order then for Scotland rose;
And where inhuman force,

And rapine unrestrain❜d
Had lorded o'er the land,
Peace came, and polity,

And quiet industry, and frugal wealth ;
And there the household virtues fix'd
Their sojourn undisturb'd.

5.

Such blessings for her dowry Scotland drew
From that benignant union; nor less large
The portion that she brought.

She brought security and strength,

True hearts, and strenuous hands, and noble minds.
Say, Ocean, from the shores of Camperdown,
What Caledonia brought! Say thou,
Egypt! Let India tell!

And let tell Victory

From that Brabantine field,

The proudest field of fame!

6.

Speak ye, too, Works of peace;
For ye too have a voice

Which shall be heard by ages! The proud Bridge,
Through whose broad arches, worthy of their name
And place, his rising and his refluent tide
Majestic Thames, the royal river rolls;
And that which high in air

A bending line suspended, shall o'erhang
Menai's straits, as if

By Merlin's mighty magic there sustain'd;
And Pont-Cyssylté, not less wondrous work ;
Where on gigantic columns raised
Aloft, a dizzying height,

The laden barge pursues its even way,
While o'er his rocky channel the dark Dee
Hurries below, a raging stream, scarce heard.
And that huge mole, whose deep foundations, firm
As if by Nature laid,

Repel the assailing billows, and protect
The British fleet, securely riding there,
Though southern storms possess the sea and sky,
And from its depths commoved,
Infuriate ocean raves.

Ye stately monuments of Britain's power,
Bear record ye what Scottish minds
Have plann'd and perfected!
With grateful wonder shall posterity

See the stupendous works, and Rennie's name,
And Telford's shall survive, till time
Leave not a wreck of sublunary things.

7.

Him too may I attest for Scotland's praise,
Who seized and wielded first

The mightiest element

That lies within the scope of man's controul;
Of evil and of good,

Prolific spring, and dimly yet discern'd
The immeasurable results.

The mariner no longer seeks

Wings from the wind; creating now the power
Wherewith he wins his way,

Right on across the ocean-flood he steers
Against opposing skies;

And reaching now the inmost continent, Up rapid streams, innavigable else, Ascends with steady progress, self-propell'd.

8.

Nor hath the Sister kingdom borne
In science and in arms

Alone, her noble part;

There is an empire which survives The wreck of thrones, the overthrow of realms, The downfall, and decay, and death Of Nations. Such an empire in the mind Of intellectual man

Rome yet maintains, and elder Greece, and such By indefeasible right

Hath Britain made her own.

How fair a part doth Caledonia claim
In that fair conquest! Whereso'er
The British tongue may spread,