C.D. Warner, et al., comp. The Library of the World’s Best Literature.
An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
Rule, Britannia!
By James Thomson (17001748)
W
Arose from out the azure main,
This was the charter of the land,
And guardian angels sang this strain:—
“Rule, Britannia, rule the waves;
Britons never will be slaves.”
Must in their turns to tyrants fall;
While thou shalt flourish great and free,
The dread and envy of them all.
“Rule, Britannia, rule the waves;
Britons never will be slaves.”
More dreadful from each foreign stroke;
As the loud blast that tears the skies
Serves but to root thy native oak.
“Rule, Britannia, rule the waves;
Britons never will be slaves.”
All their attempts to bend thee down
Will but arouse thy generous flame,
But work their woe, and thy renown.
“Rule, Britannia, rule the waves;
Britons never will be slaves.”
Thy cities shall with commerce shine;
All thine shall be the subject main,
And every shore it circles thine.
“Rule, Britannia, rule the waves;
Britons never will be slaves.”
Shall to thy happy coast repair;
Blest isle! with matchless beauty crowned,
And manly hearts to guard the fair.
“Rule, Britannia, rule the waves;
Britons never will be slaves.”