William McCarty, comp. The American National Song Book. 1842.
Inscription Proposed for the Monument of WashingtonA
Who gazest on this everlasting name?
Then make the deeds, whose splendours round it glow,
The exemplar whence thy virtuous actions flow.
Wouldst thou those high sublime achievements learn?
To History’s proudest, brightest volumes turn.
Whate’er of goodness God to man imparts—
Whate’er of greatness dwells in human hearts—
And all of wisdom that exalts the mind,
In Washington harmoniously combined.
He waked to life on Freedom’s chosen shore,
And early caught her flame, and drank her lore.
When, thundering o’er the ocean’s gloomy waves,
Oppression came to make Columbians slaves,
He grasp’d the sword, and, rising in his might,
Call’d on her sons, and march’d to glorious fight.
Back roll’d the invading blast, and Victory’s peal
Proclaim’d the power that edged his flaming steel.
Then was employed his unambitious mind
To quell the feuds the conflict left behind:
And, as in battle, he, in council great,
Became the guardian of the rising state.
His country is the page of his renown,
And bliss eternal his rewarding crown.