Tune, The Vicar of Bray.
When liberty, serenely bright,
Her beams resplendent darted,
O’er this fam’d land, the sacred light,
Its genial power imparted;
Then thickest clouds, that veil’d her rays,
By liberty were driven,
And Britons saw, in William blaze,
The patriot flame from heav’n.
CHORUS.
Britons, revere! with hearts elate,
The glorious revolution,
That firmly fix’d in church and state,
Your heaven-born constitution.
Fair freedom’s temple tyrant James,
With scepter’d sway invaded,
And conscience with her honest claims,
He scouted and degraded;
But freedom rous’d, her legions led,
And William monarch seated,
Then superstition hid her head,
And faction was defeated.
CHORUS.
On Fame’s unfading record stand,
Immortal made by story,
Illustrious worthies of our land,
Proud martyrs to its glory;
They bravely fought against all laws,
That dare fair freedom fetter,
The constitution was their cause,
The spirit and the letter.
CHORUS.
Could Athens, Greece, or Rome, so fam’d,
Can one surviving nation,
A compact boast, so wisely fram’d,
For freedom’s preservation?
Ah, No! but Britons, brave as free,
Wou’d all rejoice to find, sir,
Their own dear rights of liberty
Secur’d to all mankind, sir.
CHORUS.
The system of our club shall be,
To guard what we inherit,
The sacred dome of liberty,
With firmness, strength, and spirit;
And let the plund’ring patriots know,
Who ’gainst our rights contend, sir,
That he is freedom’s fatal foe,
Who is not George’s friend, sir.
CHORUS.