- Well does thine aspect usher in this Day;

As aptly suits therewith that timid pace,
Framed in subjection to the chains

That bind thee to the path which God ordains
That thou shalt trace,

Till, with the heavens and earth, thou pass away!
Nor less the stillness of these frosty plains,

Their utter stillness, and the silent

grace Of etherial summits white with snow, yon

(Whose tranquil pomp, and spotless purity, Report of storms gone by

To us who tread below)

Do with the service of this Day accord.
-Divinest object, which the uplifted eye
Of mortal man is suffered to behold;

Thou, who upon yon snow-clad Heights hast poured
Meek splendour, nor forget'st the humble Vale,
Thou who dost warm Earth's universal mould,

And for thy bounty wert not unadored

By pious men of old;

Once more, heart-cheering Sun, I bid thee hail ! Bright be thy course to day, let not this promise fail!

II.

'Mid the deep quiet of this morning hour, All nature seems to hear me while I speak, By feelings urged, that do not vainly seek Apt language, ready as the tuneful notes That stream in blithe succession from the throats Of birds in leafy bower,

Warbling a farewell to a vernal shower.

There is a radiant but a short-lived flame,
That burns for Poets in the dawning East;
And oft
my soul hath kindled at the same,
When the captivity of sleep had ceased;

But he who fixed immoveably the frame

Of the round world, and built, by laws as strong, A solid refuge for distress,

The towers of righteousness;

He knows that from a holier altar came

The quickening spark of this day's sacrifice; Knows that the source is nobler whence doth rise

The current of this matin song;

That deeper far it lies

Than aught dependant on the fickle skies.

III.

Have we not conquered?— By the vengeful sword? Ah no, by dint of Magnanimity;

That curbed the baser passions, and left free
A loyal band to follow their liege Lord,
Clear-sighted Honour—and his staid Compeers,
Along a track of most unnatural years,
In execution of heroic deeds;

Whose memory, spotless as the crystal beads
Of morning dew upon the untrodden meads,
Shall live enrolled above the starry spheres.
Who to the murmurs of an earthly string
Of Britain's acts would sing,

He with enraptured voice will tell
Of One whose spirit no reverse could quell;
Of One that mid the failing never failed:
Who paints how Britain struggled and prevailed,
Shall represent her labouring with an eye
Of circumspect humanity;

Shall shew her clothed with strength and skill,
All martial duties to fulfil;

Firm as a rock in stationary fight;

In motion rapid as the lightning's gleam;
Fierce as a flood-gate bursting in the night
To rouse the wicked from their giddy dream -
Woe, woe to all that face her in the field!
Appalled she may not be, and cannot yield.

IV.

And thus is missed the sole true glory
That can belong to human story!

At which they only shall arrive

Who through the abyss of weakness dive.
The very humblest are too proud of heart:
And one brief day is rightly set apart
To Him who lifteth up and layeth low;

For that Almighty God to whom we owe,

Say not that we have vanquished - but that we survive.

V.

How dreadful the dominion of the impure! Why should the song be tardy to proclaim

That less than power unbounded could not tame

That Soul of Evil-which, from Hell let loose,
Had filled the astonished world with such abuse,
As boundless patience only could endure?
-Wide-wasted regions-cities wrapped in flame-
Who sees, and feels, may lift a streaming eye

To Heaven, who never saw may heave a sigh;

But the foundation of our nature shakes,

And with an infinite pain the spirit aches,
When desolated countries, towns on fire,

Are but the avowed attire

Of warfare waged with desperate mind
Against the life of virtue in mankind;
Assaulting without ruth

The citadels of truth;

While the old forest of civility

Is doomed to perish, to the last fair tree'

VI.

A crouching purpose a distracted will
Opposed to hopes that battened upon scorn,
And to desires whose ever-waxing horn
Not all the light of earthly power could fill;
Opposed to dark, deep plots of patient skill,