To still the voice of discord in the land,
To make weak faction's discontented band,
Detected, weak, and crumbling, to decay,
With hunger pinch'd, on their own vitals prey;
Like brethren, in the self-same int'rests warm'd,
Like diff'rent bodies, with one soul inform'd,
To make a nation, nobly rais'd above
All meaner thoughts, grow up in common love;
To give the laws due vigour, and to hold
That sacred ballance, temperate, yet bold,
With such an equal hand, that those who fear
May yet approve, and own my justice clear;
To be a Common Father, to secure
The weak from violence, from pride the poor;
Vice, and her sons, to banish in disgrace,
To make Corruption dread to shew her face,
To bid afflicted Virtue take new state,
And be, at last, acquainted with the great;
Of all Religions to elect the best,
Nor let her priests be made a standing jest;
Rewards for Worth, with lib'ral hand to carve,
To love the Arts, nor let the Artists starve;
To make fair Plenty through the realm increase,
Give Fame in War, and happiness in Peace,
To see my people virtuous, great and free,
And know that all those blessings flow from me,
O 'tis a joy too exquisite, a thought
Which flatters Nature more than flatt'ry ought.
'Tis a great, glorious task, for Man too hard,
But not less great, less glorious the reward,
The best reward which here to Man is giv'n,
'Tis more than Earth, and little short of Heav'n;
A task (if such comparison may be)
The same in nature, diff'ring in degree,
Like that which God, on whom for aid I call,
Performs with ease, and yet performs to all.