Sir Joseph Mawbey

Mawbey, the virtuous patriot mind,
Capacious, noble, unconfin'd,
Repels the venom'd shafts with scorn,
Of Cocking George, or atheist H—e.

The scandal teeming from the press,
An Imprimatur might redress,
But when that fatal day we see,
Adieu to dear-bought Liberty!

That great Palladium of our rights,
In which Britannia's self delights,
For ever sacred may it stand,
The bulwark of this injur'd land!

Shall Britons glorious, great, and free,
Forget their native dignity,
And change, to amity averse,
The greatest blessing to a curse?

Curse on th' apostate's pen and heart,
Who once alert on Freedom's part,
Now, Judas-like, for venal ends,
Wou'd sep'rate all her dearest friends!

But, Mawbey, tho' a little while,
Corruption may o'er-cloud the isle,
Soon shall th' enslaving band give way,
And Patriotism win the day.