<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=391524" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>England And Spain</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">Too long have Tyranny and Power combined,<br>To sway, with iron sceptre, o'er mankind;<br>Long has Oppression worn th' imperial robe,<br>And Rapine's sword has wasted half the globe!<br>O'er Europe's cultured realms, and climes afar,<br>Triumphant Gaul has pour'd the tide of war;<br>To her fair Austria veil'd the standard bright;<br>Ausonia's lovely plains have own'd her might;<br>While Prussia's eagle, never taught to yield,<br>Forsook her tow'ring height on Jena's field!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Oh! gallant Fred'ric! could thy parted shade,<br>Have seen thy country vanquish'd and betray'd;<br>How had thy soul indignant mourn'd her shame,<br>Her sullied trophies, and her tarnish'd fame!<br>When Valour wept lamented BRUNSWlCK's doom,<br>And nursed with tears, the laurels on his tomb;<br>When Prussia, drooping o'er her hero's grave,<br>Invoked his spirit to descend and save;<br>Then set her glories -- then expired her sun,<br>And fraud achieved -- e'en more than conquest won!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">O'er peaceful realms, that smiled with plenty gay,<br>Has desolation spread her ample sway;<br>Thy blast, oh Ruin! on tremendous wings,<br>Has proudly swept o'er empires, nations, kings!<br>Thus the wild hurricane's impetuous force,<br>With dark destruction marks its whelming course;<br>Despoils the woodland's pomp, the blooming plain,<br>Death on its pinion, vengeance in its train!<br>-- Rise, Freedom, rise! and breaking from thy trance,<br>Wave the dread banner, seize the glittering lance!<br>With arm of might assert thy sacred cause,<br>And call thy champions to defend thy laws!<br>How long shall tyrant power her throne maintain?<br>How long shall despots and usurpers reign?<br>Is honour's lofty soul for ever fled?<br>Is virtue lost? is martial ardour dead?<br>Is there no heart where worth and valour dwell,<br>No patriot WALLACE, no undaunted TELL?<br>Yes, Freedom, yes! thy sons, a noble band,<br>Around thy banner, firm, exulting stand;<br>Once more 'tis thine, invincible, to wield<br>The beamy spear, and adamantine shield!<br>Again thy cheek with proud resentment glows,<br>Again thy lion-glance appals thy foes;<br>Thy kindling eye-beam darts unconquer'd fires,<br>Thy look sublime the warrior's heart inspires:<br>And while, to guard thy standard and thy right,<br>Castilians rush, intrepid, to the fight;<br>Lo! Britain's generous host their aid supply,<br>Resolved for thee to triumph or to die!<br>And glory smiles to see Iberia's name,<br>Enroll'd with Albion's in the book of fame!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Illustrious names! still, still united beam,<br>Be still the hero's boast, the poet's theme:<br>So when two radiant gems together shine,<br>And in one wreath their lucid light combine;<br>Each, as it sparkles with transcendant rays,<br>Adds to the lustre of its kindred blaze.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Descend, oh Genius! from thy orb descend!<br>Thy glowing thought, thy kindling spirit lend!<br>As Memnon's harp (so ancient fables say)<br>With sweet vibration meets the morning ray,<br>So let the chords thy heavenly presence own,<br>And swell a louder note, a nobler tone;<br>Call from the sun, her burning throne on high,<br>The seraph Ecstacy, with lightning eye;<br>Steal from the source of day empyreal fire,<br>And breathe the soul of rapture o'er the lyre!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Hail, Albion! hail, thou land of freedom's birth!<br>Pride of the main, and Phoenix of the earth!<br>Thou second Rome, where mercy, justice, dwell,<br>Whose sons in wisdom as in arms excel!<br>Thine are the dauntless bands, like Spartans brave,<br>Bold in the field, triumphant on the wave;<br>In classic elegance, and arts divine,<br>To rival Athens' fairest palm is thine;<br>For taste and fancy from Hymettus fly,<br>And richer bloom beneath thy varying sky,<br>Where Science mounts, in radiant car sublime,<br>To other worlds beyond the sphere of time!<br>Hail, Albion, hail! to thee has fate denied<br>Peruvian mines and rich Hindostan's pride;<br>The gems that Ormuz and Golconda boast,<br>And all the wealth of Montezuma's coast:<br>For thee no Parian marbles brightly shine;<br>No glowing suns mature the blushing vine;<br>No light Arabian gales their wings expand,<br>To waft Sabæan incense o'er the land;<br>No graceful cedars crown thy lofty hills,<br>No trickling myrrh for thee its balm distils;<br>Not from thy trees the lucid amber flows,<br>And far from thee the scented cassia blows!<br>Yet fearless Commerce, pillar of thy throne,<br>Makes all the wealth of foreign climes thy own;<br>From Lapland's shore to Afric's fervid reign,<br>She bids thy ensigns float above the main;<br>Unfurls her streamers to the favouring gale,<br>And shows to other worlds her daring sail;<br>Then wafts their gold, their varied stores to thee,<br>Queen of the trident! empress of the sea!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">For this thy noble sons have spread alarms,<br>And bade the zones resound with Britain's arms!<br>Calpè's proud rock, and Syria's palmy shore,<br>Have heard and trembled at their battle's roar!<br>The sacred waves of fertilizing Nile<br>Have seen the triumphs of the conquering isle!<br>For this, for this, the Samiel-blast of war<br>Has roll'd o'er Vincent's cape and Trafalgar!<br>Victorious RODNEY spread thy thunder's sound,<br>And NELSON fell, with fame immortal crown'd -- <br>Blest if their perils and their blood could gain,<br>To grace thy hand -- the sceptre of the main!<br>The milder emblems of the virtues calm, -- <br>The poet's verdant bay, the sage's palm; -- <br>These in thy laurel's blooming foliage twine,<br>And round thy brows a deathless wreath combine:<br>Not Mincio's banks, nor Meles' classic tide,<br>Are hallow'd more than Avon's haunted side;<br>Nor is thy Thames a less inspiring theme,<br>Than pure Ilissus, or than Tiber's stream.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Bright in the annals of th' impartial page,<br>Britannia's heroes live from age to age!<br>From ancient days, when dwelt her savage race,<br>Her painted natives, foremost in the chase,<br>Free from all cares for luxury or gain,<br>Lords of the wood, and monarchs of the plain;<br>To these Augustan days, when social arts,<br>Refine and meliorate her manly hearts;<br>From doubtful Arthur, hero of romance,<br>King of the circled board, the spear, the lance; -- <br>To those whose recent trophies grace her shield,<br>The gallant victors of Vimiera's field;<br>Still have her warriors borne th' unfading crown,<br>And made the British Flag the ensign of renown.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Spirit of ALFRED! patriot soul sublime!<br>Thou morning-star of error's darkest time!<br>Prince of the lion-heart! whose arm in fight,<br>On Syria's plains repell'd Saladin's might!<br>EDWARD! for bright heroic deeds revered,<br>By Cressy's fame to Britain still endear'd!<br>Triumphant Henry! thou, whose valour proud,<br>The lofty plume of crested Gallia bow'd!<br>Look down, look down, exalted Shades! and view<br>Your Albion still to freedom's banner true!<br>Behold the land, ennobled by your fame,<br>Supreme in glory, and of spotless name;<br>And, as the pyramid indignant rears<br>Its awful head, and mocks the waste of years;<br>See her secure in pride of virtue tower,<br>While prostrate nations kiss the rod of power!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Lo! where her pennons waving high, aspire,<br>Bold victory hovers near, 'with eyes of fire!'<br>While Lusitania hails, with just applause,<br>The brave defenders of her injured cause;<br>Bids the full song, the note of triumph rise,<br>And swells th' exulting pæan to the skies!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And they, who late with anguish, hard to tell,<br>Breathed to their cherish'd realms a sad farewell!<br>Who, as the vessel bore them o'er the tide,<br>Still fondly linger'd on its deck, and sigh'd;<br>Gazed on the shore, till tears obscured their sight,<br>And the blue distance melted into light; -- <br>The Royal Exiles, forced by Gallia's hate,<br>To fly for refuge in a foreign state; -- <br>They, soon returning o'er the western main,<br>Ere long may view their clime beloved again;<br>And, as the blazing pillar led the host<br>Of faithful Israel, o'er the desert coast;<br>So may Britannia guide the noble band,<br>O'er the wild ocean, to their native land.<br>Oh! glorious isle! -- O sovereign of the waves!<br>Thine are the sons who 'never will be slaves!'<br>See them once more, with ardent hearts advance,<br>And rend the laurels of insulting France;<br>To brave Castile their potent aid supply,<br>And wave, oh Freedom! wave thy sword on high!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Is there no bard of heavenly power posses'd<br>To thrill, to rouse, to animate the breast?<br>Like Shakespeare o'er the secret mind to sway,<br>And call each wayward passion to obey?<br>Is there no bard, imbued with hallow'd fire,<br>To wake the chords of Ossian's magic lyre;<br>Whose numbers breathing all his flame divine,<br>The patriot's name to ages might consign?<br>Rise! Inspiration! rise, be this thy theme,<br>And mount, like Uriel, on the golden beam!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Oh, could my muse on seraph pinion spring,<br>And sweep with rapture's hand the trembling string!<br>Could she the bosom energies control,<br>And pour impassion'd fervour o'er the soul!<br>Oh! could she strike the harp to Milton given,<br>Brought by a cherub from th' empyrean heaven!<br>Ah! fruitless wish! ah! prayer preferr'd in vain,<br>For her! -- the humblest of the woodland train!<br>Yet shall her feeble voice essay to raise<br>The hymn of liberty, the song of praise!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">IberiaN bands! whose noble ardour glows,<br>To pour confusion on oppressive foes;<br>Intrepid spirits hail! 'tis yours to feel<br>The hero's fire, the freeman's godlike zeal!<br>Not to secure dominion's boundless reign,<br>Ye wave the flag of conquest o'er the slain;<br>No cruel rapine leads you to the war,<br>Nor mad ambition, whirl'd in crimson car;<br>No, brave Castilians! yours a nobler end,<br>Your land, your laws, your monarch to defend!<br>For these, for these, your valiant legions rear<br>The floating standard, and the lofty spear!<br>The fearless lover wields the conquering sword,<br>Fired by the image of the maid adored!<br>His best-beloved, his fondest ties, to aid,<br>The Father's hand unsheaths the glittering blade!<br>For each, for all, for every sacred right,<br>The daring patriot mingles in the fight!<br>And e'en if love or friendship fail to warm,<br>His country's name alone can nerve his dauntless arm!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">He bleeds! he falls! his death-bed is the field!<br>His dirge the trumpet, and his bier the shield!<br>His closing eyes the beam of valour speak,<br>The flush of ardour lingers on his cheek;<br>Serene he lifts to heaven those closing eyes,<br>Then for his country breathes a prayer -- and dies!<br>Oh! ever hallow'd be his verdant grave, -- <br>There let the laurel spread, the cypress wave!<br>Thou, lovely Spring! bestow, to grace his tomb,<br>Thy sweetest fragrance, and thy earliest bloom;<br>There let the tears of heaven descend in balm,<br>There let the poet consecrate his palm!<br>Let honour, pity, bless the holy ground,<br>And shades of sainted heroes watch around!<br>'Twas thus, while Glory rung his thrilling knell,<br>Thy chief, oh Thebes! at Mantinea fell;<br>Smiled undismay'd within the arms of death,<br>While Victory, weeping nigh, received his breath!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Oh! thou, the sovereign of the noble soul!<br>Thou source of energies beyond control!<br>Queen of the lofty thought, the generous deed,<br>Whose sons unconquer'd fight, undaunted bleed, -- <br>Inspiring Liberty! thy worshipp'd name<br>The warm enthusiast kindles to a flame;<br>Thy look of heaven, thy voice of harmony,<br>Thy charms inspire him to achievements high;<br>More blest, with thee to tread perennial snows,<br>Where ne'er a flower expands, a zephyr blows;<br>Where Winter, binding nature in his chain,<br>In frost-work palace holds perpetual reign;<br>Than, far from thee, with frolic step to rove,<br>The green savannas, and the spicy grove;<br>Scent the rich balm of India's perfumed gales,<br>In citron-woods, and aromatic vales;<br>For oh! fair Liberty, when thou art near,<br>Elysium blossoms in the desert drear!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Where'er thy smile its magic power bestows,<br>There arts and taste expand, there fancy glows<br>The sacred lyre its wild enchantment gives,<br>And every chord to swelling transport lives;<br>There ardent Genius bids the pencil trace<br>The soul of beauty, and the lines of grace;<br>With bold, Promethean hand, the canvas warms,<br>And calls from stone expression's breathing forms.<br>Thus, where the fruitful Nile o'erflows its bound,<br>Its genial waves diffuse abundance round,<br>Bid Ceres laugh o'er waste and sterile sands,<br>And rich profusion clothe deserted lands! </div><div style="margin:10px 0">Immortal FREEDOM! daughter of the skies!<br>To thee shall Britain's grateful incense rise!<br>Ne'er, goddess! ne'er forsake thy favourite isle,<br>Still be thy Albion brighten'd with thy smile!<br>Long had thy spirit slept in dead repose,<br>While proudly triumph'd thine insulting foes;<br>Yet tho' a cloud may veil Apollo's light,<br>Soon, with celestial beam, he breaks to sight:<br>Once more we see thy kindling soul return,<br>Thy vestal-flame with added radiance burn;<br>Lo! in Iberian hearts thine ardour lives,<br>Lo! in Iberian hearts thy spark revives!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Proceed, proceed, ye firm undaunted band!<br>Still sure to conquer, if combin'd ye stand:<br>Though myriads flashing in the eye of day,<br>Stream'd o'er the smiling land in long array;<br>Though tyrant Asia pour'd unnumber'd foes,<br>Triumphant still the arm of Greece arose: -- <br>For every state in sacred union stood,<br>Strong to repel invasion's whelming flood;<br>Each heart was glowing in the general cause,<br>Each hand prepared to guard their hallow'd laws;<br>Athenian valour join'd Laconia's might,<br>And but contended to be first in fight;<br>From rank to rank the warm contagion ran,<br>And Hope and Freedom led the flaming van:<br>Then Persia's monarch mourn'd his glories lost,<br>As wild confusion wing'd his flying host;<br>Then Attic bards the hymn of victory sung,<br>The Grecian harp to notes exulting rung!<br>Then Sculpture bade the Parian stone record,<br>The high achievements of the conquering sword.<br>Thus, brave Castilians! thus, may bright renown,<br>And fair success your valiant efforts crown!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Genius of chivalry! whose early days,<br>Tradition still recounts in artless lays;<br>Whose faded splendours fancy oft recalls, -- <br>The floating banners, and the lofty halls;<br>The gallant feats thy festivals display'd,<br>The tilt, the tournament, the long crusade;<br>Whose ancient pride Romance delights to hail,<br>In fabling numbers, or heroic tale:<br>Those times are fled, when stern thy castles frown'd,<br>Their stately towers with feudal grandeur crown'd;<br>Those times are fled, when fair Iberia's clime,<br>Beheld thy Gothic reign, thy pomp sublime;<br>And all thy glories, all thy deeds of yore,<br>Live but in legends wild, and poet's lore!<br>Lo! where thy silent harp neglected lies,<br>Light o'er its chords the murmuring zephyr sighs;<br>Thy solemn courts, where once the minstrel sung,<br>The choral voice of mirth and music rung;<br>Now, with the ivy clad, forsaken, lone,<br>Hear but the breeze and echo to its moan:<br>Thy lonely towers deserted fall away,<br>Thy broken shield is mouldering in decay.<br>Yet though thy transient pageantries are gone,<br>Like fairy visions, bright, yet swiftly flown;<br>Genius of chivalry! thy noble train,<br>Thy firm, exalted virtues yet remain!<br>Fair truth, array'd in robes of spotless white,<br>Her eye a sunbeam, and her zone of light;<br>Warm emulation, with aspiring aim,<br>Still darting forward to the wreath of fame;<br>And purest love, that waves his torch divine,<br>At awful honour's consecrated shrine;<br>Ardour with eagle-wing, and fiery glance;<br>And generous courage, resting on his lance;<br>And loyalty, by perils unsubdued;<br>Untainted faith, unshaken fortitude;<br>And patriot energy, with heart of flame; -- <br>These, in Iberia's sons are yet the same!<br>These from remotest days their souls have fired,<br>'Nerved every arm,' and every breast inspired!<br>When Moorish bands their suffering land possess'd,<br>And fierce oppression rear'd her giant crest;<br>The wealthy caliphs on Cordova's throne,<br>In eastern gems and purple splendour shone;<br>Theirs was the proud magnificence, that vied<br>With stately Bagdat's oriental pride;<br>Theirs were the courts in regal pomp array'd,<br>Where arts and luxury their charms display'd;<br>'Twas theirs to rear the Zehrar's costly towers,<br>Its fairy-palace and enchanted bowers;<br>There all Arabian fiction e'er could tell,<br>Of potent genii or of wizard spell; -- <br>All that a poet's dream could picture bright,<br>One sweet Elysium, charm'd the wondering sight!<br>Too fair, too rich, for work of mortal hand,<br>It seem'd an Eden from Armida's wand!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Yet vain their pride, their wealth, and radiant state,<br>When freedom waved on high the sword of fate!<br>When brave Ramiro bade the despots fear,<br>Stern retribution frowning on his spear;<br>And fierce Almanzor, after many a fight,<br>O'erwhelm'd with shame, confess'd the Christian's might.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">In later times the gallant Cid arose,<br>Burning with zeal against his country's foes;<br>His victor-arm Alphonso's throne maintain'd,<br>His laureate brows the wreath of conquest gain'd!<br>And still his deeds Castilian bards rehearse,<br>Inspiring theme of patriotic verse!<br>High in the temple of recording fame,<br>Iberia points to, great Gonsalvo's name;<br>Victorious chief! whose valour still defied<br>The arms of Gaul, and bow'd her crested pride;<br>With splendid trophies graced his sovereign's throne,<br>And bade Granada's realms his prowess own.<br>Nor were his deeds thy only boast, oh Spain!<br>In mighty FERDINAND's illustrious reign;<br>'Twas then thy glorious Pilot spread the sail,<br>Unfurl'd his flag before the eastern gale;<br>Bold, sanguine, fearless, ventured to explore<br>Seas unexplored, and worlds unknown before:<br>Fair science guided o'er the liquid realm,<br>Sweet hope, exulting, steer'd the daring helm;<br>While on the mast, with ardour-flashing eye,<br>Courageous enterprise still hover'd nigh:<br>The hoary genius of th' Atlantic main,<br>Saw man invade his wide majestic reign; -- <br>His empire yet by mortal unsubdued,<br>The throne, the world, of awful solitude!<br>And e'en when shipwreck seem'd to rear his form,<br>And dark destruction menaced in the storm;<br>In every shape, when giant-peril rose,<br>To daunt his spirit and his course oppose;<br>O'er every heart when terror sway'd alone,<br>And hope forsook each bosom, but his own:<br>Moved by no dangers, by no fears repell'd,<br>His glorious track the gallant sailor held;<br>Attentive still to mark the sea-birds lave,<br>Or high in air their snowy pinions wave:<br>Thus princely Jason, launching from the steep,<br>With dauntless prow explored th' untravell'd deep;<br>Thus, at the helm, Ulysses' watchful sight,<br>View'd every star, and planetary light.<br>Sublime Columbus! when at length, descried,<br>The long-sought land arose above the tide;<br>How every heart with exultation glow'd,<br>How from each eye the tear of transport flow'd!<br>Not wilder joy the sons of Israel knew,<br>When Canaan's fertile plains appear'd in view;<br>Then rose the choral anthem on the breeze,<br>Then martial music floated o'er the seas;<br>Their waving streamers to the sun display'd,<br>In all the pride of warlike pomp array'd;<br>Advancing nearer still, the ardent band,<br>Hail'd the glad shore, and bless'd the stranger land;<br>Admired its palmy groves, and prospects fair,<br>With rapture breathed its pure ambrosial air;<br>Then crowded round its free and simple race,<br>Amazement pictured wild on every face:<br>Who deem'd that beings of celestial birth,<br>Sprung from the sun, descended to the earth!<br>Then first another world, another sky,<br>Beheld Iberia's banner blaze on high!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Still prouder glories beam on history's page,<br>Imperial CHARLES! to mark thy prosperous age:<br>Those golden days of arts and fancy bright,<br>When science pour'd her mild, refulgent light;<br>When Painting bade the glowing canvas breathe,<br>Creative Sculpture claim'd the living wreath;<br>When roved the Muses in Ausonian bowers,<br>Weaving immortal crowns of fairest flowers;<br>When angel-truth dispersed, with beam divine,<br>The clouds that veil'd religion's hallow'd shrine;<br>Those golden days beheld Iberia tower,<br>High on the pyramid of fame and power:<br>Vain all the efforts of her numerous foes,<br>Her might, superior still, triumphant rose.<br>Thus, on proud Lebanon's exalted brow,<br>The cedar, frowning o'er the plains below,<br>Though storms assail, its regal pomp to rend,<br>Majestic still aspires, disdaining e'er to bend!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">When Gallia pour'd, to Pavia's trophied plain,<br>Her youthful knights, a bold, impetuous train;<br>When, after many a toil and danger past,<br>The fatal morn of conflict rose at last;<br>That morning saw her glittering host combine,<br>And form in close array the threat'ning line;<br>Fire in each eye, and force in every arm,<br>With hope exulting, and with ardour warm;<br>Saw to the gale their streaming ensigns play,<br>Their armour flashing to the beam of day;<br>Their gen'rous chargers panting, spurn the ground,<br>Roused by the trumpet's animating sound;<br>And heard in air their warlike music float,<br>The martial pipe, the drum's inspiring note!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Pale set the sun -- the shades of evening fell,<br>The mournful night-wind rung their funeral knell;<br>And the same day beheld their warriors dead,<br>Their sovereign captive, and their glories fled!<br>Fled, like the lightning's evanescent fire,<br>Bright, blazing, dreadful -- only to expire!<br>Then, then, while prostrate Gaul confess'd her might,<br>Iberia's planet shed meridian light!<br>Nor less, on famed St. Quintin's deathful day,<br>Castilian spirit bore the prize away; -- <br>Laurels that still their verdure shall retain,<br>And trophies beaming high in glory's fane!<br>And lo! her heroes, warm with kindred flame,<br>Still proudly emulate their father's fame;<br>Still with the soul of patriot-valour glow,<br>Still rush impetuous to repel the foe!<br>Wave the bright falchion, lift the beamy spear,<br>And bid oppressive GALLIA learn to fear!<br>Be theirs, be theirs unfading honour's crown,<br>The living amaranths of bright renown!<br>Be theirs th' inspiring tribute of applause,<br>Due to the champions of their country's cause!<br>Be theirs the purest bliss that virtue loves,<br>The joy when conscience whispers and approves!<br>When every heart is fired, each pulse beats' high,<br>To fight, to bleed, to fall, for Liberty;<br>When every hand is dauntless and prepared,<br>The sacred charter of mankind to guard;<br>When Britain's valiant sons their aid unite,<br>Fervent and glowing still for Freedom's right,<br>Bid ancient enmities for ever cease,<br>And ancient wrongs forgotten, sleep in peace;<br>When firmly leagued, they join the patriot band,<br>Can venal slaves their conquering arms withstand?<br>Can fame refuse their gallant deeds to bless?<br>Can victory fail to crown them with success?<br>Look down, oh Heaven! the righteous cause maintain,<br>Defend the injured, and avenge the slain!<br>Despot of France! destroyer of mankind!<br>What spectre-cares must haunt thy sleepless mind!<br>Oh! if at midnight round thy regal bed,<br>When soothing visions fly thine aching head;<br>When sleep denies thy anxious cares to calm,<br>And lull thy senses in his opiate-balm;<br>Invoked by guilt, if airy phantoms rise,<br>And murder'd victims bleed before thine eyes;<br>Loud let them thunder in thy troubled ear,<br>'Tyrant! the hour, th' avenging hour is near!'<br>It is, it is! thy Star withdraws its ray, -- <br>Soon will its parting lustre fade away;<br>Soon will Cimmerian shades obscure its light,<br>And veil thy splendours in eternal night!<br>Oh! when accusing conscience wakes thy soul,<br>With awful terrors, and with dread control,<br>Bids threat'ning forms, appalling, round thee stand,<br>And summons all her visionary band;<br>Calls up the parted shadows of the dead,<br>And whispers, peace and happiness are fled;<br>E'en at the time of silence and of rest,<br>Paints the dire poniard menacing thy breast;<br>Is then thy cheek with guilt and horror pale?<br>Then dost thou tremble, does thy spirit fail?<br>And wouldst thou yet by added crimes provoke,<br>The bolt of heaven to launch the fatal stroke?<br>Bereave a nation of its rights revered,<br>Of all to mortals sacred and endear'd?<br>And shall they tamely liberty resign,<br>The soul of life, the source of bliss divine?<br>Canst thou, supreme destroyer! hope to bind,<br>In chains of adamant, the noble mind?<br>Go, bid the rolling orbs thy mandate hear, -- <br>Go, stay the lightning in its wing'd career!<br>No, Tyrant! no, thy utmost force is vain,<br>The patriot-arm of Freedom to restrain:<br>Then bid thy subject-bands in armour shine,<br>Then bid thy legions all their power combine!<br>Yet couldst thou summon myriads at command,<br>Did boundless realms obey thy sceptred hand,<br>E'en then her soul thy lawless might would spurn,<br>E'en then, with kindling fire, with indignation burn!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Ye Sons of Albion! first in danger's field,<br>The word of Britain and of truth to wield!<br>Still prompt the injured to defend and save,<br>Appal the despot, and assist the brave;<br>Who now intrepid lift the gen'rous blade,<br>The cause of JUSTICE and CASTILE to aid!<br>Ye Sons of Albion! by your country's name,<br>Her crown of glory, her unsullied fame,<br>Oh! by the shades of Cressy's martial dead,<br>By warrior-bands, at Agincourt who bled;<br>By honours gain'd on Blenheim's fatal plain,<br>By those in Victory's arms at Minden slain;<br>By the bright laurels WOLFE immortal won,<br>Undaunted spirit! valour's favourite son!<br>By Albion's thousand, thousand deeds sublime,<br>Renowned from zone to zone, from clime to clime;<br>Ye BRITISH heroes! may your trophies raise,<br>A deathless monument to future days!<br>Oh! may your courage still triumphant rise,<br>Exalt the 'lion-banner' to the skies!<br>Transcend the fairest names in history's page,<br>The brightest actions of a former age;<br>The reign of Freedom let your arms restore,<br>And bid oppression fall -- to rise no more!<br>Then, soon returning to your native isle,<br>May love and beauty hail you with their smile;<br>For you may conquest weave th' undying wreath,<br>And fame and glory's voice the song of rapture breathe!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Ah! when shall mad ambition cease to rage?<br>Ah! when shall war his demon-wrath assuage?<br>When, when, supplanting discord's iron reign,<br>Shall mercy wave her olive-wand again?<br>Not till the despot's dread career is closed,<br>And might restrain'd, and tyranny deposed!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Return, sweet Peace, ethereal form benign!<br>Fair blue-eyed seraph! balmy power divine!<br>Descend once more! thy hallow'd blessings bring,<br>Wave thy bright locks, and spread thy downy wing!<br>Luxuriant plenty laughing in thy train,<br>Shall crown with glowing stores the desert-plain;<br>Young smiling hope, attendant on thy way,<br>Shall gild thy path with mild celestial ray.<br>Descend once more! thou daughter of the sky!<br>Cheer every heart, and brighten every eye!<br>Justice, thy harbinger, before thee send,<br>Thy myrtle-sceptre o'er the globe extend:<br>Thy cherub-look again shall soothe mankind;<br>Thy cherub-hand the wounds of discord bind;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Thy smile of heaven shall every muse inspire,<br>To thee the bard shall strike the silver lyre.<br>Descend once more! to bid the world rejoice, -- <br>Let nations hail thee with exulting voice;<br>Around thy shrine with purest incense throng,<br>Weave the fresh palm, and swell the choral song!<br>Then shall the shepherd's flute, the woodland reed,<br>The martial clarion, and the drum succeed,<br>Again shall bloom Arcadia's fairest flowers,<br>And music warble in Idalian bowers;<br>Where war and carnage blew the blast of death,<br>The gale shall whisper with Favonian breath!<br>And golden Ceres bless the festive swain,<br>Where the wild combat redden'd o'er the plain!<br>These are thy blessings, fair benignant maid!<br>Return, return, in vest of light array'd!<br>Let angel-forms, and floating sylphids bear,<br>Thy car of sapphire thro' the realms of air,<br>With accents milder than Eolian lays,<br>When o'er the harp the fanning zephyr plays;<br>Be thine to charm the raging world to rest,<br>Diffusing round the heaven -- that glows within thy breast!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Oh! thou! whose fiat lulls the storm asleep!<br>Thou! at whose nod subsides the rolling deep!<br>Whose awful word restrains the whirlwind's force,<br>And stays the thunder in its vengeful course;<br>Fountain of life! Omnipotent Supreme!<br>Robed in perfection! crown'd with glory's beam!<br>Oh! send on earth thy consecrated dove,<br>To bear the sacred olive from above;<br>Restore again the blest, the halcyon time,<br>The festal harmony of nature's prime!<br>Bid truth and justice once again appear,<br>And spread their sunshine o'er this mundane sphere;<br>Bright in their path, let wreaths unfading bloom,<br>Transcendant light their hallow'd fane illume;<br>Bid war and anarchy for ever cease,<br>And kindred seraphs rear the shrine of peace;<br>Brothers once more, let men her empire own,<br>And realms and monarchs bend before the throne;<br>While circling rays of angel-mercy shed<br>Eternal halos round her sainted head!</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=Felicia+Dorothea+Hemans">Felicia Dorothea Hemans</a><div class=q> <img src="https://www.citatepedia.ro/g/32share.png" style="float:left" alt="Share"> <script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=391524" data-title="England And Spain de Felicia Dorothea Hemans" data-description="Too long have Tyranny and Power combined, To sway, with iron sceptre, o'er mankind; Long has Oppression worn th' imperial robe, And Rapine's sword has wasted half the globe! O'er Europe's cultured realms, and climes afar, Triumphant Gaul has pour'..."></div> </div> </div>

solid border dashed border dotted border double border groove border ridge border inset border outset border no border blue green red purple cyan gold silver black