FOR THE NEW-YEAR 1763.

     I
At length th’ imperious lord of war
Yields to the fates their ebon car,
     And frowning quits his toil:
Dash’d from his hand the bleeding spear
Now deigns a happier form to wear,
     And peaceful turns the soil.
Th’ insatiate furies of his train,
Revenge and hate, and fell disdain,
     With heart of steel, and eyes of fire,
Who stain the sword which honour draws,
Who fully virtue’s sacred cause,
     To Stygian depths retire.
Unholy shapes, and shadows drear,
     The pallid family of fear,
     And rapine, still with shrieks pursued,
     And meagre famine’s squalid brood
Close the dire crew. - Ye eternal gates display
Your adamantine folds, and shut them from the day!

     II
For lo, in yonder pregnant skies
On billowy clouds the goddess lies,
     Whose presence breathes delight,
Whose power th’ obsequious seasons own,
And Winter loses half his frown,
     And half her shades the night,
Soft-smiling peace! whom Venus bore,
When tutor’d by th’ enchanting lore
     Of Maia’s blooming son.
She sooth’d the synod of the gods,
Drove discord from the blest abodes,
     And Jove resum’d his throne.
Th’ attendant graces gird her round,
And sportive ease, with locks unbound,
And every muse to leisure born,
And plenty, with her twisted horn,
While changeful commerce spreads his loosen’d sails,
Blow as ye lift, ye winds, the reign of peace prevails!

     III
And low, to grace that milder reign,
And add fresh lustre to the year,
Sweet innocence adorns the train,
In form and features, Albion’s heir!
A future George! - Propitious powers,
     Ye delegates of heaven’s high King,
Who guide the years, the days, the hours
     That float on time’s progressive wing,
Exert your influence, bid us know
From parent worth what virtues flow!
Be to less happy realms resign’d
     The warrior’s unrelenting rage,
We ask not kings of hero-kind,
     The storms and earthquakes of their age.
To us be nobler blessings given:
O teach us, delegates of Heaven,
What mightier bliss from union springs!
     Future subjects, future kings,
Shall bless the fair example shown,
And from our character transcribe their own:
     “A people zealous to obey:
     “A monarch whose parental sway
     “Despises regal art;
     “His shield, the laws which guard the land;
     “His sword, each Briton’s eager hand,
     “His throne, each Briton’s heart.”