On The Fourteenth Of July[54]

A Day ever Memorable to Regenerated France

Bright Day, that did to France restore What priests and kings had seiz'd away, That bade her generous sons disdain The fetters that their fathers wore, The titled slave, a tyrant's sway, That ne'er shall curse her soil again!

Bright day! a partner in thy joy, Columbia hails the rising sun, She feels her toils, her blood repaid, When fiercely frantic to destroy, (Proud of the laurels he had won) The Briton, here, unsheath'd his blade.

By traitors driven to ruin's brink Fair Freedom dreads united knaves, The world must fall if she must bleed;-- And yet, by heaven! I'm proud to think The world was ne'er subdued by slaves-- Nor shall the hireling herd succeed.

Boy! fill the generous goblet high; Success to France, shall be the toast: The fall of kings the fates foredoom, The crown decays, its' splendours die; And they, who were a nation's boast, Sink, and expire in endless gloom.

Thou, stranger, from a distant shore,[A] Where fetter'd men their rights avow, Why on this joyous day so sad? Louis insults with chains no more,-- Then why thus wear a clouded brow, When every manly heart is glad?

[A] Addressed to the Aristocrats from Hispaniola.--Freneau's note.

Some passing days and rolling years May see the wrath of kings display'd, Their wars to prop the tarnish'd crown; But orphans' groans, and widows' tears, And justice lifts her shining blade To bring the tottering bauble down.

[1792]

This was published in the National Gazette, July 14, 1792, introduced as follows:

"ODES ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS.

"HE who does not read in the book of the Odes, is like a man standing with his face flat against a wall: he can neither move forward, nor stir an inch backward.--Hau Kiou Choaan."

This was Ode I of the series. It was republished only in the edition of 1795, the text of which I have followed.

On July 14, 1789, the French people made their first armed stand against monarchial institutions, attacking and destroying the Bastile.