Mercy Otis Warren

“ Fair freedom stands, and waves her laurel high; She, on the acme of her burnish'd throne, Shall hail the morrow with applauding shouts, And greet Maria, as the guardian queen Of union, peace, and liberty to Spain. ”

“ Deception oft beneath a flimsy veil, Hides human hearts, nor lets man know himself. Should fortune snatch the victory from thee--- Thyself---thy friends---and freedom lost at once--- Perhaps you'll curse, in agonies of grief, Louisa's house---her venerated sire--- Her noble brother---and yet more I dread--- Yes---my lip trembles at the rising thought--- The hapless daughter of thy cruel foe. ”

“ So far above the weakness of thy sex, Let me beseech thee never to despair;--- Support thy courage, arm thy noble mind--- Sure never more did thy Padilla need Thy wisdom, counsel, fortitude and zeal, To animate amidst ten thousand cares. But my firm purpose never can be shook; While life glows warm within my beating breast, I will defend, against the proudest foe, The liberties of Spain, my country's rights. ”

“ Donna Louisa
Talk not of love, while sympathetic pain, And keenest sorrows, rive the boldest heart; While thousands fall at freedom's sacred shrine, And bathe her pedestal with the rich blood Of the best soldiers that the world can boast; While the fond wife droops o'er her dying lord, And orphan'd babes, and widow'd matrons weep, Thrown helpless, on a cold, ungrateful world, As pitiless as winter's frozen hand. ”

“ When honour calls, and justice wields the sword, True virtue spares, and clemency forgives; But when a fierce, tyrannic lust of sway, Deforms the soul, and blots out nature's stamp, The wolf, or tyger, prowling for his prey, Is less a savage than the monster man. Donna Louisa
No more, my lord---I sink beneath the storm; The jarring passions tear my feeble frame--- My filial duties make the first demand; Yet, spite of these, a group of passions rise, Love---friendship---fear---compassion and despair, Alternate rend, in spite of reason's sway. ”

“ Donna Maria
Though weak compassion sinks the female mind, And our frail sex dissolve in pity's tears; Yet justice' sword can never be resheath'd, 'Till Charles is taught to know we will be free; And learns the duty that a monarch owes, To heaven---the people---and the rights of man. Let him restore the liberties of Spain--- Dismiss the robbers that arrest his ear--- Those pension'd plunderers that rudely seize What nature gave, and what our fathers won. ”

“ The hero's brain inflates--- He cheats himself by the false medium, Held in virtue's guise, till he believes it just: But the vile rabble---the plebeian race, Made for the yoke, bend like the servile mule, And own mankind were made for slaves to power. ”

“ Donna Maria
So dangerous a foe has Spain ne'er seen Since from the brindled North, the savage hords Pour'd from their frozen hives, where gendering storms Have rush'd, and swell'd fair Ebro's banks with blood. Don Juan De Padilla
We have been free e'er since the mighty Goths, In barb'rous swarms, compell'd the peaceful swain To bare his breast, and meet the stranger's sword; The raw and hardy peasants of the field, Train'd up to arms, inur'd to feats of war, Op'd their full veins and wash'd in native gore The field, the village, and their father's tombs, Ere they establish'd liberty and peace. ”

“ For human woes my heart has often bled--- Yet dry thy tears, and calm thy ruffled mind--- Anticipate my bliss, and bid me live:--- Oh! give thy hand, and plight thy sacred vow, Ere war's hoarse clarion summons to the field, That nought but death shall tear thee from my arms. ”