To glut the vengeance of a vanquish'd foe.
Then, active still and unrestrain'd, his mind 1500
Explor'd the vast extent of ages past,
And with his prison-hours enrich'd the world;
Yet found no times, in all the long research,
So glorious, or so base, as those he prov'd,
In which he conquer'd, and in which he bled. 1505
Nor can the Muse the gallant Sidney pass,
The plume of war! with early laurels crown'd,
The lover's myrtle, and the poet's bay.
A Hamden too is thine, illustrious land,
Wise, strenuous, firm, of unsubmitting soul, 1510
Who item'd the torrent of a downward age
To slavery prone, and bade thee rise again,
In all thy native pomp of freedom bold.
Bright, at his call, thy age of Men effulg'd,
Of Men on whom late time a kindling eye 1515
Shall turn, and tyrants tremble while they read.
Bring every sweetest flower, and let me strew
The grave where Russel lies; whose temper'd blood
With calmest chearfulness for thee resign'd,
Stain'd the sad annals of a giddy reign;1520
Aiming at lawless power, tho' meanly sunk
In loose inglorious luxury. With him
His friend, the [1]British Cassius, fearless bled;
Of high determin'd spirit, roughly brave,
By antient learning to th' enlightened love 1525
Of antient freedom warm'd. Fair thy renown
In awful Sages and in noble Bards;
Soon as the light of dawning Science spread
Her orient ray, and wak'd the Muses' song.
Thine is a Bacon, hapless in his choice, 1530
Unfit to stand the civil storm of state,
And thro' the smooth barbarity of courts,
- ↑ Algernon Sidney
