[Page 203]
VERSES Written at MOUNTAUBAN in FRANCE, 1750.
1 TARN, how delightful wind thy willow'd waves,
2 But ah! they fructify a land of slaves!
3 In vain thy bare-foot, sun-burnt peasants hide
4 With luscious grapes yon' hill's romantic side;
5 No cups nectareous shall their toils repay,
6 The priest's, the soldier's, and the fermier's prey:
7 Vain glows this sun in cloudless glory drest,
8 That strikes fresh vigour thro' the pining breast;
9 Give me, beneath a colder, changeful sky,
10 My soul's best, only pleasure, LIBERTY!
11 What millions perish'd near thy mournful floodb
b Alluding to the persecutions of the protestants, and the wars of the Saracens, carried on in the Southern provinces of France.
12 When the red papal tyrant cry'd out — "Blood!
13 Less fierce the Saracen, and quiver'd Moor,
14 That dash'd thy infants 'gainst the stones of yore.
15 Be warn'd ye nations round; and trembling see
16 Dire superstition quench humanity!
[Page 204]17 By all the chiefs in Freedom's battles lost;
18 By wise and virtuous ALFRED'S aweful ghost;
19 By old GALGACUS' scythed, iron car,
20 That swiftly whirling thro' the walks of war,
21 Dash'd Roman blood, and crush'd the foreign throngs:
22 By holy Druids' courage-breathing songs;
23 By fierce BONDUCA'S shield, and foaming steeds;
24 By the bold peers that met on Thames's meads;
25 By the fifth HENRY'S helm, and lightning spear,
26 O LIBERTY, my warm petition hear;
27 Be ALBION still thy joy! with her remain,
28 Long as the surge shall lash her oak-crown'd plain!
About this text
Author: Joseph Warton
Themes:
liberty; landscapes
Genres:
heroic couplet
References:
DMI 25752
Text view / Document view
Source edition
Dodsley, Robert, 1703-1764. A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes. By Several Hands. Vol. IV. London: printed by J. Hughs, for R. and J. Dodsley, 1763 [1st ed. 1758], pp. 203-204. 6v.: music; 8⁰. (ESTC T131163; OTA K104099.004) (Page images digitized by the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive from a copy in the archive's library.)
Editorial principles
The text has been typographically modernized, but without any silent modernization of spelling, capitalization, or punctuation. The source of the text is given and all editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. Based on the electronic text originally produced by the TCP project, this ECPA text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.
Other works by Joseph Warton
- The Dying INDIAN. ()
- The ENTHUSIAST: OR THE LOVER of NATURE. A POEM. ()
- FASHION: A SATIRE. ()
- ODE AGAINST DESPAIR. ()
- ODE occasion'd by Reading Mr. WEST'S Translation of PINDAR. ()
- ODE TO A GENTLEMAN UPON HIS TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. ()
- ODE TO A LADY WHO HATES THE COUNTRY. ()
- ODE to FANCY. ()
- ODE TO HEALTH. WRITTEN ON A RECOVERY FROM THE SMALL-POX. ()
- ODE TO LIBERTY. ()
- ODE TO SOLITUDE. ()
- ODE TO SUPERSTITION. ()
- ODE TO THE NIGHTINGALE. ()
- The Revenge of AMERICA. ()
- STANZAS written on taking the Air after a long Illness. ()