The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-02-18 00:00:00

Vottrp.

THE WEEPING WILLOW OF BABYLON.

The following verses were written by the Marquess Wel-
lesley, eldest brother of the Duke of Wellington, at his seat,
Fernehill, near Eton, the other day. The composition is
good and elegant. It is at least an innocent and even digni-
fied amusement for an old prime Etonian, now in his 80th
year:-- _

The first of this race of willow was introduced into England
in the last century : it was brought from the banks of the
Euphrates, near the ruins of Babylon, where this willow
abounds. This is the willow on which the Israelites
" hanged their harps," according to the Psalm 137
" Super flumina Babylonis." " How shall I sing the
Lords song in the land of a stranger ?"
Dishevelled, mournful, beauteous type of Grief
That seem'st in tears to bend o'er Thames's tide,
And still to rue the day, when Babel's chief,
High on thy parent stream enthroned in pride,
Beheld upon thy melancholy boughs
The harps unstrung of Israel's captive band,
When heart, and voice, and orisons, and VOWS
Refused the haughty victor's stern command
To move great Sion's festal lay sublime.
To mingle heavenly strains of joy with tears.
To sing the Lord's song in a stranger's clime,
And chant the holy hymn to heathen ears,
Down by Euphrates' side they sat and wept,
In sorrow,mute, but not to memory dead ;
Oh Sion !--voice and harp in stillness slept,
But the pure mindful tear for thee was shed
To thee, beloved Sion! vain were given
f •
Blessing and honour, wealth u
The glorious present majesty fa
Heavenl cr—in vain
Irradiated thy chosen holy fane
Fallen from thy God, the heathen's barbarous hand
Despoil* thy temple, and thine
_ altar stains ;
'Refs of her children mourns the parent land,
And in her dwellings deathlike silence reigns.
ument to l •
Rise, sacred tr ee
How Vanity an
How lead to Wteol
;
Under what wrath unfaithful Israel fell,
What mighty arm laid Babel's triumphs low,
Rise, sacred tree! on Thames's gorgeous shore,
To warn the people, and to guard the throne
Teach them pure religion to adore,
And foreign faiths, and rites, and pomps disown !
Teach them, that their forefathers' noble race,
With virtue, liberty, and truth combined,
And honest zeal, and piety and grace,
Tne throne and altar's strength have intertwined :
The lofty glozies of the land and main,
The stream of industry, and trade's proud course,
The majesty of empire to sustain,
God's blessing on sound faith is Britain's force.
Me, when thy shade and Thames's meads and flowers
Invite to soothe the cares of waning age,
Ma y memory bring to me my long-past hours
To calm my soul, and troubled thoughts assauge !
Come, parent Eton !, turn the stream of time
Back to thy sacred fountain crowned with bays !
Recall my brightest, sweetest days of prime !
When all was hope, and triumph, joy, and praise.
Guided by thee I raised my youthful sight
To the steep solid heights of lasting fame,
And hailed the beams of clear ethereal light
That brighten round the Greek and Roman name.
0 blest instruction ! friend to generous youth !
Source of all good! you taught me to entwine
The muse's laurel with eternal truth,
And wake her lyre to strains of faith divine.
Firm, incorrupt, as in life's dawning morn,
Nor swayed by novelty, nor public breath,
Teach me false censure and false fame to scorn,
And guide* steps through honour's paths to death.
And thou; time-honoured fabric, stand ! A tower
hapregnable, a bulwark of the state !
Untouched by visionary folly's power,
Above the vain, and ignorant, and great !
The mighty race with cultured minds adorn
And piety, and faith ; congenial pair !
And spread thy gifts through ages yet unborn,
Thy country's pride, and Heaven's parental care.