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Show 54 GU S T A VV S V A S A, 2d Dale. Peace ! 3d Dale. Peace ! 4f-h Dale. Peace ! Guft, Amazement I perceive hath fill'd yoar Hearts, And Joy for that your loft Guftavus, 'fcap'd Thro' Wounds, fmprifonments, and Chains, and Deaths, Thus fudden, thus unlook'd for ftands before ye. As one efcap'd from cruel Hands I come, From Hearts tha£ ne'er knew Pity; dark andver.ge. ful: W h o quaff the Tears of Orph3nr, bathe in Blood, And know no Mufick but the Gro3ns of Sweden. Yet, not for that m y Sifter's early Innocence, And Mother's-Age now grind beneath Captivity ; Nor that one bloody, one remorfelefs Hour Swept m y great Sire, and Kindred from m y Side; For them Guftavus weeps not, tho' m y Eyes Were far lefs dear, for them I will not weep. But, O great Parent, when I think on thee ! T h y numberlefs, thy namelefs, fhameful Infamies, IVIy widow'd Country ! Sweden ! when I think Upon thy Defolation, Spite of Rage And Vengeance that would choak them*--Tears will flow. And. O, they are Villains, ev'ry Dane of them, Pradtis'd to ftab and fmile ; to ftab the Babe That fmiles upon them. Arn. What accurfed Hours K o U o'er thofe Wretches who to Fiends like thefe In their dear Liberty have barter'd more Than Worlds will rate for ? Guft. O Liberty. Heav'n's choice Prerogative ! True Rond of Law, thou focK) Sdfcl of ?^2«rty, Thou Breath of Reafon, Life of Life itfelf! For thee the Valiant bleed. O facrcd Liberty ! Wing'd from the Summer's Snare, from flatt'ring Ruin, Like the bold Stroke vo» feek the wint'ry Shore, Leave The Deliverer of his Country. 55 Leave Court,, and Pomps, and Palaee^to Slavci, £ e to the Cold, and ^ F J ^ ^ S . Upborn by thee, my Soul difdaind W l e ^ . Thee fav'riteSons I lought; thy ao««, - - FoVev'n amid the Wilds of Lite you leathern, Lift their low rafted Cottage to the UoucU, Smile o'er their Heaths, and trcm their Mountain Tops Beam Glory to the Nations. All. Liberty] Liberty! .. Guft. Arc ye not mark'd, ye M e n of Dalecarlia Are ye not mark'd by all the circling World A« the great Stake, the laft Effort tor Liberty ? Say, is it not your Wealrh, the Thirft, the Food, The Scope and bright Ambition of your bouls ? W h y elfe have you, ?nd your renown'd Forefathers, From the proud Summit of their ghtt'ring Thrones, Call down the mightieft of your lawful Kings That dar'd the bold Infringement? What, but Liberty, Thro' the fam'd Courfe of thirteen hundred Years, Aloof hath held Invsfion from your Hills, And fanctify'd their Shade?-And will ye, will ye Shrink from the Hopes ot the expecting World $ Bid your high Honours ftoop to foreign Infult, And in one Hour give up to Infamy The Harveft of a thoufand Years of Glory ? iff Dale. No. 2d Dale. Never, never. 3 : Dale. Perifh ali firft ! /** 4 h Dale. Die all ! - Gt/ft. Yes, die by Piecemeal ! Leave not a Limb o'er which a Dane may triumph ! |