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A POEM On the DEATH Of His late MAJESTY King GEORGE, Of glorious Memory: AND THE ACCESSION Of our present SOVEREIGN King GEORGE II. To the British THRONE.
By Mr. BYLES.
Ergo agite, et cuncti laetum cel [...]bremus ho [...]orem [...]
Poscamus ventos, atque haec mea sacra quotannis
Urbe velit posita templis sibi ferre dicatis.
Virg. Aen. v.
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A POEM On the Death of King GEORGE I. AND ACCESSION of King GEORGE, II.
SAY, mournful Muse, declare thy rising woe;
What heaves thy heart; and whence thy sorrows flow;
Why in thy face such anxious grief appears;
And o're thy eye-balls swim the speaking tears.
O GEORGE, thy death my flowing numbers mourn,
Thy sacred ashes, and distinguish'd urn:
Thee every muse, and every grace deplores,
From Thame's banks, to these Atlantick shores;
Each bard, his grief in gliding accents shews,
And fairest eyes distill their crystial dews.
O! were my breast flush'd with an equal fire,
Vast as my theme, and strong as my desire!
Then, mighty GEORGE, then should my notes arise,
And spreading musick echo round the skies;
Thy name, in tuneful measures lead along,
Should dance, harmonious, thro' my flowing song;
The raptur'd muse thy awful form reveal,
Describe thy counsels, and thy actions tell;
[Page ii] Bid dying sounds thy ravish'd life bemoan,
Or shouting nations hail thee to thy throne;
Each varying scene, with various numbers crown'd,
Should earth, and sea, and air, & heaven resound!
LONG e're his Albion triumph'd in his reign
His sword glar'd dreadful o'er the Hungarian plain
Witness, ye troops, thro' whose wide ranks he ran,
Rouz'd the fierce war, and call'd the tumult on:
Say, how divinely then his aspect show'd,
What conduct shone, what dauntless courage glow'd,
When man to man, and smoke oppos'd to smoke,
Flames flash'd at flames, at thunder thunder broke,
When death, indignant, drove his iron car,
Thro' the dire havock of the raging war:
Ev'n now, behold! the intrepid Heroe flies
To meet the monster with undaunted eyes:
Till smiling vict'ry, and immortal peace,
Hung o're his head, and bid the battle cease.
RECORD, O heavenly Muse, the illustrious day
When joyful Britain own'd the sovereign sway;
Conceal'd for ever, lye the acts that stain
The last black months of ANNA's gloomy reign;
When secret treason work'd, when justice fled,
And loud destruction threaten'd o'er our head:
'Twas then, by heaven ordain'd, his happy hand,
From ruin rescu'd the devoted land;
[Page iii] The storm was husht, the clam'rous factions laid,
And peaceful olive spread its wealthy shade.
So when dark clouds hang heavy o'er the main
And, bellying down, distend with floods of rain;
To heave them on, the winds their forces try,
While they, slow-sailing, labour up the sky;
The thickning volumes spread the heavenly dome,
And as they pass, project a solemn gloom:
Disolving now, a drizling dew distills,
Dampens the vales, and sprinkles round the hills;
Still, gathering strength, the airy sluces low'r,
And on the fields, descends a copious show'r,
Last, furious grown, down rush the rapid rains,
And pour impetuous, spattering on the plains.
If then the sun breaks out, the shadows fly,
And the gay rainbow arches o're the sky.
HAIL, happy ALBION! heavens peculiar care,
See thy Deliverer to thy shoars repair!
Flourish ye fields, ye groves exalt your heads,
Where Thames's currant murmurs o're the meads:
And thou, AUGUSTA, sparkling in my eyes,
Let thy tall towers, and shinning turrets rise;
Where riches glitter; mirth for ever sings;
And smiling plenty spreads her golden wings;
For thee, Peru her beamy face displays;
For thee the orient shores of Ganges blaze;
A thousand pleasures crown thy flowry plains,
While GEORGE divinely o're thy kingdom reigns.
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BUT oh! at once the heavenly scenes decay,
And all the gaudy visions fade away.
He dies! — my Muse, the dismal sound forbear:
In every eye debates the falling tear:
A thousand passions o'er my bosom roll,
Swell in my heart, and shock my inmost soul.
He dies! — let nature own the direful blow,
Sigh, all ye winds, with tears, ye rivers, flow,
Let the wide ocean, loud in anguish, roar,
And tydes of grief pour plenteous on the shore;
No more the spring shall bloom, or morning rise,
But night eternal wrap the sable skies.
ENOUGH, my Muse, give all thy tears away;
Break, ye dull shades; and rise the rosey day:
Quicken, O Sun, thy chariot dazling-bright,
And o'er thy flaming empire pour the light:
O Spring, along thy laughing lawns be seen
Fields always fresh, and groves for ever green:
Let Britain's sorrow cease, her joys enlarge,
The First revives within the Second GEORGE.
Hail! mighty Prince, O shining Sovereign hail!
Fain would the Muse lisp her prophetick tale;
In mystic lays, thy future years relate,
And sing the records of unripen'd fate;
Bid Thee, in fame's triumphant chariot ride,
And CAROLINA glitter by thy side.
Fair Princess, Thou! in whose majestick eyes
Dawn heavenly beauties, and immortal joys;
[Page v] By thee, shall Albion future triumphs own,
And a long race of Hero's grace her throne:
Here, FREDERICK in the bloom of years shall stand;
Here youthful WILLIAM blossom o'er the land;
Thou ANNA, here, with charms celestial crown'd
And all thy heavenly Sisters flame around.
EV'N our far shores confess the big delight,
Where the faint sun rolls down his golden light;
The dancing billows leap along the main,
Proud of th' extent of GEORGE's happy reign;
Applauding thunders shake the air around,
Waves shout to waves, and rocks to rocks resound;
Each human breast glows with resistless fire,
And ev'ry Angel strikes his sounding lyre.
O live, auspicious PRINCE! live, radiant QUEEN!
Long let your influence guild the glorious scene:
And you, fair Off-spring, form'd for high command,
Flourish, ye blooming Honours of the land!
But when from the dim courts below you fly,
To the bright regions of the upper sky,
Where trees of life, by living riv'lets team,
Wave their talls heads, and paint the running stream,
May round your heads, crowns flash celestial-bright,
And regal purple change for robes of light;
Taste charms still new, and joys without decay,
While endless years in raptures roll away.