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S E A-P I E C E:

CONTAINING

I. THE BRITISH SAILOR'S EXULTATION.

II. HIS PRAYER BEFORE ENGAGEMENT.

THE DEDICATION.

TO

M R.

VOLTAIRE.

I.

MY Mufe, a bird of passage, flies

From frozen climes to milder skies;
From chilling blafts the feeks thy chearing beam,
A beam of favour, here deny'd;
Conscious of faults, her blushing pride
Hopes an afylum in fo great a name.

II.

* To dive full deep in antient days,
The warrior's ardent deeds to raise,
And monarchs aggrandize ;-the glory, Thine;
Thine is the drama, how renown'd!
Thine, Epic's loftier trump to found ;
But let Arion's fea-ftrung harp be Mine:

III.

But where 's his dolphin? Know'ft thou, where? May that be found in Thee, Voltaire! Save thou from harm my plunge into the wave: How will thy name illustrious raise

My finking fong! Mere mortal lays,

So patroniz'd, are rescued from the grave.

IV. "Tell

* Annals of the Emperor Charles XII. Lewis XIV.

IV.

"Tell me, fay'ft thou, who courts my smile? "What stranger stray'd from yonder ifle !"— No ftranger, Sir! though born in foreign climes ; On Dorfet downs, when Milton's page, With Sin and Death, provok'd thy rage,

Thy rage provok'd, whe footh'd with gentle rhymes ?

V.

Who kindly couch'd thy cenfure's eye,
And gave thee clearly to defcry

Sound judgment giving law to fancy strong?
Who half inclin'd thee to confefs,

Nor could thy modesty do less,

That Milton's blindness lay not in his fong?

VI.

But fuch debates long fince are flown;
For ever fet the funs that fhone

On airy pastimes, ere our brows were grey:
How shortly fhall we Both forget,

To thee my patron I my debt,
And thou to thine for Pruffia's golden key.

VII.

The prefent, in oblivion caft,

Full foon shall fleep, as fleeps the past ; Full foon the wide diftinction die between The frowns and favours of the great ; High-flush'd fuccefs, and pale defeat; The Gallic gaiety, and British spleen.

VIII. Ye

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