LINES

On the Statue of Washington in the Capitol.

It is our WASHINGTON that you behold,
Whom Nature fashioned in her grandest mould,
To be the leader of a noble band,
The friends of freedom, and their native land:
A perfect hero, free from all excess;
Above Napoleon, though he dazzled less:
Not quite so great for what he did, 'tis true,
But greater far for what he did not do:
And, nought he ought not, all he ought, to be,
He made his country, and he left her, free.