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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Untitled Article
O t then the glories of thy proud career ,, ( With many a tale repaid my listening ear . z Thy merchant IXukesby prostrate Kings obeyeu * Thy deeds of war in distant climes displayed , Thy marble palaces , and sea-girt walls /
The orient splendour of thy gildea hails , Touched with bright hues from Fancy ' s pencil caught . All raised the rapture of xny childish thought ; And now—e ' en now to manhood ' s sterner glance Thine annals wear the impress of Romance , And all that History tells of thee might seena The lovely fiction of a poet ' s dream 1
Whilst in his wrath Ausonia ' s northern foe * O ' er her fair cities flung- & cloud of woe , Her outcast sons condemned alas ! to roam , And seek abroad the rest denied at home—Fled from the wreck of arts , the waste of life , The Victor ' s fetter , and the Battle ' s strife—Where Adria reared from Ocean ' s dimpled smiles The free seclusion of her cluster'd Isles !
Though rude the scene , yet Peace and Freedom there Smoothed Nature ' s frown and made e ' en deserts fair , Blue heaven above , and murmuring waves around , Below , the rocks with verdant wildness crown'd , Seemed to the Exile ' s joyful gaze , a new ^ And fair creation screened from , tyrant ' s view !
There Venice rose , and thence in tranquil state She viewed each awful change of changeful Fate , Whilst Conquest shook with desolating hand Her Lion Crest o ' er many a subject Land , Where soft Italia n s sunny prospect lies ,
Blest in its fadeless plains , and cloudless skies , Or where green Asia spreads her gardened shore , Or Afric ^ s sons their fertile streams adore , And many a marble form of heavenly mould , ( That flash'd on Genius' glowing thought of old * And taught Canova ' s wand in after time
To shadow forth the bdauteous and sublime ) The life-like statue , and the breathing bust , The column rescued from defiling dust—From those sweet Isles that gem the rEgean waves , Too bright and lovely for the homes of Slaves 1 To conquering Venice borne—with spoils divine Adorned the Palace , or enriched the Shrine . Light of admiring Earth !—when holy zeal Reared War ' s red flag , and bared the glitter ing steel ,
Each pilgrim prince , and red-cross chief implored The mighty succour of thy sail and sword . —> And v&in the flush of eager Valor—vain The Christian ' s hope to crush the Moslem ' s reign , Till Venice cast her banner to the breeze ,
And bade her navy sweep the sounding seas . Proud was that hour when o ' er the sparkling bay Her martial galleys stretched their long array , Proud was that close of day , whose farewell smile Wept its sad light on Zara ' s yielding Isle ,
* Attila . " Or like our Fathers driven by Attila From fertile Italy to barren Islets /' Two jposcABif
Untitled Article
558 Ptogtryv ^ renic&s
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1826, page 558, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2552/page/50/
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