Has stood these wintry blasts, grown stronger by them."
The epithet "azure" employed in the first stanza is, with "cerulean" and "aerial," one of the three commonest epithets in Thomson, the three occurring at least twenty times in his poetry. A somewhat cursory examination of his works has enabled us to find that "azure" or "azured" alone occurs ten times. "Generous," too, in the Latin sense of the term, is another of his favourite words, it being used no less than sixteen times in Britannia and Liberty alone. Another of his favourite allusions is to England's "native oaks." Thus in Britannia he speaks of—
"Your oaks, peculiar harden'd, shoot
Strong into sturdy growth;"
in the last part of Liberty we find "Let her own naval oak be basely torn," and in the same part of the poem he speaks of the "venerable oaks" and "kindred floods." The epithet "manly" and the phrase "the fair"—"manly hearts to guard the fair"—are also peculiarly Thomsonian, being repeatedly employed by him, the phrase "the fair" occurring in his poetry at least six times, if not oftener. "Flame," too, is another of his favourite words.
"All their attempts to bend thee down
Will but arouse," etc.,
is exactly the sentiment in Britannia.
"Your hearts
Swell with a sudden courage, growing still