| THE QUEEN'S LAMENTATION.
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| 1.
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Beneath a verdant, shady bower,
Adorned with many a fragrant flower,
Britannia's queen sat pensively,
Lamenting her sad destiny.
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| 2.
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Her numerous offspring round her throng
Attentive to her plaintive song,
When thus her Majesty begun,
"My dearest babes, we are undone.
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| 3.
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"For I on every side can see
Nought but impending misery;
With reason, then, I curse the day
I was advanced to regal sway.
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| 4.
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"In Mecklenburg, my native soil,
Ere that I knew this cursed isle,
I roved a virgin princess bright,
And revelled in unmixed delight.
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| 5.
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"But when demanded by your sire
Ye gods! my soul was all on fire;
My fancy roved from scene to scene,
In prospect mighty Britain's queen.
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| 6.
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"Revolving years rolled smoothly on,
Nor had a thorn yet pierced my crown;
One round of pleasure and delight,
Adorned by day and crowned by night.
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| 7.
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"But when your father did advise
With your great grandsire's enemies,
A gloomy cloud hung o'er my head,
And filled me with eternal dread.
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| 8.
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"With prayers and tears I often strove
The sad occasion to remove,
I often did my Lord implore
To grant a peace to yonder shore.
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| 9.
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"But those pernicious vermin still
Did urge him on from ill to ill;
And by their craft conducted so
As proves Great Britain's overthrow.
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| 10.
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"Those rebels, though they bear the name,
'Tis we, not they, sure, are to blame,
Have acted with such dignity,
Are surely worthy to live free.
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| 11.
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"I trembling sit upon my throne,
I cannot wear this mangled crown.
See how it trembles on my head!
I wish, my babes, that we were dead!
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| 12.
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"Oh, were my head a flood of tears,
That I might wash away my fears,
And mitigate my inward dread;
Alas! I wish that we were dead."
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