There all around the gentleft breezes ftray,
There gentle mufic melts on every spray;
Creation's mildest charms are there combin'd,
Extremes are only in the master's mind!
Stern o'er each bofom reafom holds her state,
With daring aims irregularly great,

Pride in their port, defiance in their eye,
I fee the lords of human kind pass by;
Intent on high defigns, à thoughtful band,
By forms unfafhion'd fresh from nature's hand,
Fierce in their native hardinefs of foul,
True to imagin'd right, above controul,
While even the peafant boafts thefe rights to fcan,
And learns to venerate himself as man,

Thine, freedom, thine the blessings pictur'd

here

Thine are thofe charms that dazzle and endear;
Too bleft indeed, were fuch without alloy,
But fofter'd even by freedom ills annoy:
That independence Britons prize too high,
Keeps man from man, and breaks the focial tie;
The felf dependent lordlings ftand alone,
All claims that bind and fweeten life unknown;
Here by the bonds of nature feebly held,
Minds combat minds, repelling and repell'd.
Ferments arife, imprifon'd factions roar, >
Repreft ambition struggles round her fhore,
Till over wrought, the general fyftem feels
Its motions ftop, or phrenzy fire the wheels.
Nor this the worlt. As nature's ties decay,
As duty, love, and honour fail to fway,
Fictitious bonds, the bonds of wealth and law,

führt, der ihn (in der 22ften Ode des ersten Buchs) fabulofus nennt, wegen des Landes, welches er durch. firemt, und von welchem die Griechen viele lächer liche Mahrchen erzählten.

Still gather ftrength, and force unwilling awe.
Hence all obedience bows to thee alone,
And talent finks, and merit weeps unknown;
Till time may come, when, stript of all her.

charms

The land of fcholars, and the nurse of arms, Where noble ftems tranfinit the patriot flame, Where kings have toil'd, and poets wrote for fame,

One fink of level avarice shall lie,

And scholars, foldiers, kings, unhonour'd die. Yet think not, thus when freedom's ills I state.

I mean to flatter kings, or court the great;
Ye powers of truth, that bid my foul afpire,
Far from my bofoin drive the low defire;
And thou, fair' freedom, taught alike to feel
The rabble's rage, and tyrant's angry steel;
Thou tranfitory flower, alike undone
By proud contempt, or favor's foftering fun.
Still may thy blooms the changeful clime endure,
I only would reprefs them to fecure:
For juft experience tells, in every soil,
That thofe who think must govern those that,
toil;

Ar all that freedom's highest aims can reach,
Is but to lay proportion'd loads on each.
Hence, fhould one order difproportion'd grow,
Its double weight muft ruin all below.

O then how blind to all that truth requires Who think it freedom when a part afpires! Calm is my foul, nor apt to rife in arins, Except when faft approaching danger warms: But when contending chiefs blockade the throne, Contracting regal power to stretch their own, When I behold a factious band agree

To call in freedom when themfelves are frec;

Each wanton judge new penal statutes draw,

Laws grind the poor,

and rich men rule the law;

The wealth of climes, where favage nations

roam,

Pillag'd from flaves to purchase flaves at home; Fear, pity, justice, indignation start,

Tear off referve, and bear my fwelling heart;

Till half a patriot, half a coward grown,
I fly from petty tyrants to the throne.

Yes, brother, curse with me that baleful
hour,

When first ambition ftruck at regal power;
And thus polluting honour in it's fource,
Gave wealth to Iway the mind with double

force,

Have we not seen, round Britain's peopled
Thore,

Her useful fons exchang'd for useless ore?
Seen all her triumphs but destruction haste,
Like flaring tapers bright'ning as they waste;
Seen opulence, her grandeur to maintain,
Lead ftern depopulation in her train,
And over fields where fcatter'd hamlets role,
role,
In barren folitary pomp repole?
Have we not feen at pleafure's lordly call,
The fmiling long-frequented village fall?
Beheld the duteous fon, the fire decay'd,
The modest matron, and the blufhing maid,
Forc'd from their homes, a melancholy train,
To traverse climes beyond the western main;
Where wild Oswego m) fpreads her fwamps
around,

m) Oswego, ein Flufs in Canada, der in den See Ontario fallt. Seine Ufer find movaftig.

And, Niagara n) ftuns with thund'ring found? Even now, perhaps, as there fome pilgrim

Strays

Through tangled forests, and through dangerous

ways;

Where beasts with man divided empire claim, And the brown Indian marks with murd'rous aim;

There, while above the giddy tempeft flies,
And all around distressful yells arife,
The penfive exile, bending with his woe,
To ftop too fearful, and too faint to go,
Cafts a long look where England's glories fhine,
And bids his bofom fympathize with mine.

Vain, very vain, my weary search to find
That blifs which only centres in the mind:
Why have I stray'd from pleasure and repofe,
To feek a good each government bestows?
In every government, though terrors reign,
Though tyrant kings, or tyrant laws restrain,
How Imall of all that human hearts endure,
That part which laws or kings can cause or

cure.

Still to ourselves in every place confign'd,
Our own felicity we make or find:

n) Niagara, gleichfalls ein Flufs in Canada, der aus dem öftlichen Ende des Sees Erie kommt, und in den See Ontario fällt. Die Worte: ftuns with thund'ring found, beziehen fich auf das Rauschen der grofsen, in demfelben befindlichen Wafferfalle, die fich fenkrecht, zum Theil in einer Höhe von 160 Fufs herunter stürzen. Man fehe die Beschreibung diefer erhabnen Naturfcene im 28ften Briefe von Weld's Reifen durch die vereinten Staaten von Nord-Amerika, imgleichen durch Ober- und Unter-Canada, aus dem Englifchen. Berlin bei Hande und Spener 1800.

With fecret course, which no loud ftorms annoy,
Glides the smooth current of domestic joy.
The lifted ax, the agonizing wheel,

Luke's o iron crown, and Damien's P) bed of steel,
To men remote from power but rarely known,
Leave reafon, faith, and confcience, all our own.

o) Das Ereignis, uf welches Goldsmith mit diefen Worten anfpielt, ift folgendes: Im Jahr 1514 (heifst es in einer Schrift, betitelt Respublica Hungarica) entstand

Ungarn ein grofser Aufstand, an defen Spitze fich Gebrüder George and Lukas Zeck befander Er wurde wieder gedämpft, und George (wicht Lukas, w Goldfinith invig schreibt) wurde dadurch bestraft, dafs ein cirkelformiges glühendes Eifen auf feinen Kopf geletet wurde corona candefcente ferrea coronatur), wie es in dem geführten Werke heifst.

p) Damiens (Robert François), geboren 1714, verwundete bekanntlich im Januar des Jahres 1757 Ludwig den Fyfzehnten Zur Strafe feines Verbrechens wurde er im März deffelben Jahres, nachdem man iha durch allerlei Martern vergeblich die Anzeige feiner etwa nigen Mitverfchwornen`abzupressen gefucht harte, auf eine äusserst qualvolle Art hingerichtet. Das Jtaklerne Bett, deffe in unfrer Stelle gedacht wird, war, wie der Zufengnenhang lehrt, gewifs auch eine Art Folter: vielleich ist davanter der eiferne Reif zu verftehen, der auf dem Boden des Blutgerüftes wie ein Gürtel befestigt war, und fich vermittelft eines Gelerikes öffnete, fo dafs der Körper des Miffethäters während der Qualen der Hinrichtung hineingelegt, und der Ring felbft wieder über ihn gefcliloffen werden konnte.

II.