O dreadful mercy! more than death severe !
That doubly tortures whom it seems to spare!
All seem enflav'd, all bow to him alone;
Nor dare their hate their just refentments own ;
But inward grieve, their fighs and pangs confin'd,
Which with convulfive forrow tear the mind.
Envy is mute-'tis treason to disclose
The baneful fource of their eternal woes.
But STILICO's fuperior foul appears
Unfhock'd, unmov'd, by base ignoble fears.
He is the Polar Star, directs the flate,
When parties rage, and public tempefis beat;
He is the fafe retreat, the fweet repose,
Can footh and calm affli&ed Virtue's woes;
He is the folid, firm, unfhaken force,

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That only knows to ftem th' invader's course.

So when a river, fwell'd with Winter's rains,

The limits of its wonted fhore difdains;
Bridges, and stones, and trees, in vain oppose;
With unrefifted rage the torrent flows:
But as it, rolling, meets a mighty rock,
Whose fix'd foundations can repel the fhock,
Elided furges roar in eddies round,

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The rock, unmov'd, reverberates the found,

BRITAIN'S

* BRITAIN'S PALLADIUM;

OR,

Lord BOLINGBROKE'S Welcome from FRANCE.

"Et thure, et fidibus juvat

"Placare, et vituli fanguine debito

"Cuftodes Numidæ Deos."

HOR. lib. I. Od. xxxvi. ad Pomponium Numidam, ob cujus ex Hifpaniâ redditum gaudio exultat.

WHAT noife is this, that interrupts my fleep?

What echoing fhouts rife from the briny deep?

Neptune a folemn festival prepares,

And Peace through all his flowing orb declares :
That dreadful trident, which he us❜d to shake,
Make Earth's foundations and Jove's palace quake,
Now, by his fide, on ouzy couch reclin’d,
Gives a smooth surface and a gentle wind :
Innumerable Tritons lead the way,

And crouds of Nereids round his chariot play.
The ancient Sea-gods with attention wait,

To learn what's now the last refult of Fate;

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*Lord Bolingbroke fet out for France (accompanied by Mr. Hare one of his under-fecretaries, Mr. Prior, and the Abbé Gualtier) Aug. 2; and arrived again in Londen, Aug. 21, 1712. Ñ,

What

What earthly Monarch Neptune now decrees
Alone his great vicegerent of the feas.

By an aufpicious gale, Britannia's fleet ·
On Gallia's coaft this fhining triumph meet;
These pomps divine their mortal fenfe furprize,
Loud to the ear, and dazzling to the eyes:
Whilft fcaly Tritons, with their fhells, proclaim
The names that muft furvive to future fame;
And Nymphs their diadems of pearl prepare
For monarchs who, to purchase peace, make war :
Then Neptune his majestic filence broke,
And to the trembling failors mildly fpoke:
"Throughout the world Britannia's flag display;
"Tis my command, that all the globe obey :
"Let British ftreamers wave their heads on high,
"And dread no foe beneath Jove's azure sky;
"The reft let Nereus tell"—

"If I have truth," fays Nereus," and forefee "The intricate defigns of Destiny;

"I, that have view'd whatever fleets have rode "With fharpen'd keels to cut the yielding flood;

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I, that could weigh the fates of Greece and Rome, Phoenician wealth, and Carthaginian doom; “Must surely know what, in the womb of time, "Was fore-ordain'd for Britain's happy clime; "How wars upon the watery realms fhall ceafe, "And Anna give the world a glorious peace; "Reftore the fpicy traffick of the East,

"And stretch her empire to the distant West:

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40 "Her

"Her fleets defcry Aurora's purple bed,

"And Phœbus' fteeds after their labours fed.
"The Southern coafts, to Britain scarcely known,
"Shall grow as hospitable as their own:

"No monsters shall be feign'd, to guard their store, 45
"When British trade fecures their golden ore :
"The fleecy product of the Cotswold field

"Shall equal what Peruvian mountains yield:
"Iron fhall there intrinfic value show,
"And by Vulcanian art more precious grow..
"Britannia's royal fishery shall be

“ Improv'd by a kind guardian deity;
"That mighty task to Glaucus we affign,
"Of more importance than the richest mine;

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"He fhall direct them how to strike the Whale,

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"How to avoid the danger, when prevail;

"What treasure lies upon the frozen coast "Not yet explor'd, nor negligently loft.

"In vaft Acadia's plains, new theme for fame, "Towns fhall be built, facred to Anna's

name; 60

"The filver fir and lofty pine shall rife
"From Britain's own united Colonies;
"Which to the mast shall canvafs-wings afford,
"And pitch, to ftrengthen the unfaithful board;
"Norway may then her naval ftores with-hold,
"And proudly starve for want of British gold.
"O happy Ifle! to fuch advantage plac'd,
"That all the world is by thy counfels grac'd;

Annapolis, the capital of Nova Scotia,

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"Thy

"Thy nation's genius, with industrious arts,
"Renders thee lovely to remoteft parts.
"Eliza first the fable scene withdrew,

"And to the ancient world display'd the new;
When Burleigh at the helm of state was seen,
"The truest subject to the greatest Queen ;
"The Indians, from the Spanish yoke made free,
« Blefs'd the effects of English liberty;

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"Drake round the world his Sovereign's honour spread, Through ftraights and gulphs immenfe her fame "convey'd ;

"Nor refts enquiry here; his curious eye "Defcries new conftellations in the sky,

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In which vaft space, ambitious mariners

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Might place their names on high, and chufe their ftars. Raleigh, with hopes of new discoveries fir'd,

And all the depths of human wit infpir'd,

"Rov'd o'er the Western world, in search of fame, 85 "Adding fresh glory to Eliza's name;

“Subdued new empires, that will records be "Immortal of a Queen's virginity *.

"But think not, Albion, that thy fons decay, "Or that thy princes have lefs power to fway; Whatever in Eliza's reign was seen,

With a re-doubled vigour fprings again :
Imperial Anna fhall the feas control,

"And spread her naval laws from Pole to Pole :
"Nor think her conduct or her counfels lefs,
In arts of war, or treaties for a peace;

* Alluding to the firft fettlement of Virginia.

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