Virginia Argus

From the London Independent Whig

THE COURT OF LIBERTY.

Hark! through the skies yon silver sound-
The skies the soothing notes rebound,
Earth pleas'd, repeats the gentle strain,
Re-echo'd to the skies again
'Tis LIBERTY proclaims her court,
Whither doth all the world resort;
Here let assembled nations meet,
As Freemen and as Brothers greet.
The sluggish nations hear the call:
In vain they hear; the loathsome chain
Of indolence restrains their soul:
But for a friend from the vast whole,
To each addressing her she speaks,
Majestic thus her solemn silence breaks—
Gallia? No! her dastard band
Have servile crouch'd beneath the hands
of foreign slaves:
Where, where is now thy patriot mind
Wit, valor and with worth combin'd,
Roving as free, as unconfin'd,
E'en as the waves,
That sportive dash along thy fertile shore,
My pleasing home, my glad abode, no more!
Hispania? Are her struggles vain.
Still clutch her yoke must she remain,
Nor e'er remember pleasing goal
In gladsome glee?
Tyrants may flourish; may elate,
with head-dream'd pow'r of reckon'd great
Yet all shall feel Israel's destined fate,
MAN SHALL BE FREE!
Shrink, Tyrants, shrink! dare to be truly great,
Or overwhelm your dread impending fate
Britannia, too? Not her's this hour,
Nor boasts she yet the pleasing power
To share my smile:
Well might she claim my willing gaze
Of pleasure in her island's blaze,
When glow'd of strength the richest rays
Around her isle.
Britannia lives not; 'neath the deep
The spirits of her Heroes sleep.
Come thou, in freedom's vigor great,
Thou young, yet pow'r maintaining state,
My dearest pride:
Boast thou with joy thy free-born mind,
With which, in ev'ry wish combin'd,
My fav'ring influence lives enshrin'd
To strength allied.
To bless thee still shall Wisdom join
With power, and tend by brows shine
Glory, AMERICA, for those, all ear'd ae shine

VIRGINIA: