Classic Poem

TO THE AUTHOR OF MEMOIRS OF THE HOUSE OF BRANDENBURGH. 1751.

I.

 T HE men renown'd as chiefs of human race,
 And born to lead in counsels, or in arms,
 Have seldom turn'd their feet from Glory's chace
 To dwell with books, or court the Muse's charms:
 Yet, to our eyes if haply time hath brought
 Some genuine transcript of their calmer thought,
 There still we own the wise, the great, or good;
 And Cæsar there and Xenophon are seen,
 As clear in spirit and sublime of mien,
As on Pharsalian plains, or by the Assyrian flood.

II.

 Say thou too, Frederic, was not this thy aim?
 Thy vigils could the student's lamp engage,
 Except for this? except that future Fame
 Might read thy genius in the faithful page?
 That if hereafter Envy shall presume
 With words irreverent to inscribe thy tomb,
 And baser weeds upon thy palms to fling,
 That hence posterity may try thy reign,
 Assert thy treaties, and thy wars explain,
And view in native lights the hero and the king.

III.

 O evil foresight and pernicious care!
 Wilt thou indeed abide by this appeal?
 Shall we the lessons of thy pen compare
 With private honour, or with public zeal?
 Whence then at things divine those darts of scorn?
 Why are the woes, which virtuous men have borne
 For sacred truth, a prey to laughter given?
 What fiend, what foe of Nature urg'd thy arm
 The Almighty of his sceptre to disarm?
To push this earth adrift, and leave it loose from Heaven?

IV.

 Ye godlike shades of legislators old,
 Ye who made Rome victorious, Athens wise,
 Ye first of mortals with the bless'd enroll'd,
 Say did not horror in your bosoms rise,
 When thus by impious vanity impell'd
 A magistrate, a monarch, ye beheld
 Affronting civil order's holiest bands?
 Those bands which ye so labour'd to improve?
 Those hopes and fears of justice from above,
Which tam'd the savage world to your divine commands?