Prologue

We tell a tale of Liberty to-night; How patriots freely bleed, and freemen fight; How men, though few, united in one cause, May, 'spite of millions, for themselves form laws; And though an union'd world their rights oppose, May still support the government they chose. But why that start when Liberty is nam'd? I fear, bright goddess, she hath been defam'd; A fiend accurst hath oft assum'd her form, In whirlwinds nurst, and bred amid the storm; Of face detestable, of words obscene, Hell in her eye, and fury in her mien; Yet vers'd in vile Hypocrisy's dark way, She, harlot like, allures the steps astray, While from her lewd embraces, fruitful, spring, The factious partizan, the lawless king, Vile anarchy, misrule, and blood, and death, The smoking hamlet, and the barren heath;— By these, her offspring, shall the fiend be known, For tyranny and ruin are her own: And ne'er from Liberty such evils came, For Liberty and Justice are the same. Can Liberty with base injustice dwell? As well seek virtue in the depths of hell— Where equal rights are found—no marking grade, From property, or colour's varying shade, There seek the nymph—No Spartan dame is she, Enslaving ten, that one may live more free. Firm is her step, yet modest is her mien, And conscious Virtue in her face is seen; Valour, and manly Science in her train, Upholding Peace, who blesses all the plain: Her locks luxuriant, circling tendrils bind; Her virgin manners, show a virgin mind; The lover's warmth she softens to the friend's, And rugged wildness to obedience bends. Reserv'd, yet open, though severe, yet mild; Wise as the man, yet guileless as the child. Such is the Liberty to-night we show, Best friend to right, to every wrong a foe.