[Page 23]

ODE TO MERCY.

BY THE SAME.
STROPHE.
1 O Thou, who sit'st a smiling bride
2 By Valour's arm'd and awsul side,
3 Gentlest of sky-born forms, and best ador'd:
4 Who oft with songs, divine to hear,
5 Win'st from his fatal grasp the spear,
6 And hid'st in wreaths of flowers his bloodless sword!
7 Thou who, amidst the deathful field,
8 By godlike chiefs alone beheld,
9 Oft with thy bosom bare art found,
10 Pleading for him the youth who sinks to ground:
11 See, Mercy, see, with pure and loaded hands,
12 Before thy shrine my country's Genius stands,
13 And decks thy altar still, tho' pierc'd with many a wound!
[Page 24]
ANTISTROPHE.
14 When he whom even our joys provoke,
15 The Fiend of Nature join'd his yoke,
16 And rush'd in wrath to make our isle his prey;
17 Thy form, from out thy sweet abode,
18 O'ertook him on his blasted road,
19 And stopp'd his wheels and look'd his rage away.
20 I see recoil his sable steeds,
21 That bore him swift to savage deeds,
22 Thy tender melting eyes they own;
23 O Maid, for all thy love to Britain shown,
24 Where Justice bars her iron tower,
25 To thee we build a roseate bower,
26 Thou, thou shalt rule our queen, and share our monarch's throne!

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About this text

Title (in Source Edition): ODE TO MERCY.
Author: William Collins
Themes: philosophical enquiry
Genres: ode
References: DMI 31043

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Source edition

Pearch, G. A collection of poems in four volumes. By several hands. Vol. II. [The second edition]. London: printed for G. Pearch, 1770, pp. 23-24. 4v. ; 8⁰. (ESTC T116245; DMI 1135; OTA K093079.002) (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [(OC) 280 o.789].)

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