When on thine hopes the cloud of battle lowers, Then, can thy dastard soul some semblance wear Of manhood's stamp--when fear hath conquer'd fear. Canst thou be brave? whose dying prospects show A scene of all that's horrible in woe! On whose ambition, long by carnage nursed, 240 Death stamps the greatest change, the last, the worst! Death!--to thy view most terrible of things, Dreadful in all he takes and all he brings! --But, King of Terrors! ere thou seize thy prey, Point with a lingering dart to Moscow's fatal day; And on the wreck of Nations write his name! 251 O when will conquerors from example learn, Or truth from aught but self-experience earn? How many Catos must be wept again? How many Cæsars sacrific'd in vain ? While Europe doz'd-too aged to be taught- 260 I see thee redden at that mighty Name That fills the Herd of conquerors with shame: But ere we part, Napoleon, deign to hear The bodings of thy future dark career; Fate to the poet, trusts her iron leaf, Fraught with thy ruin-read it and be brief- Then to thy senate flee, to tell the tale 270 Of Russia's full revenge, Gaul's deep indignant wail. -It is thy doom false greatness to pursue, Rejecting, and rejected by, the true; A sterling name, thrice proffer'd, to refuse; Till Fate and Fortune, finding that thou'rt still' Untaught by all their good and all their ill, Expell'd, recall'd, reconquer'd---all in vain,- Though times, occasions, chances, foes, and friends, In this alone be great-to have withstood Such varied, vast temptations to be good! 280 And thine still wak'd by night, still dream d by day, To rule o'er Kings, as these o'er subjects sway; 290 Nor dar'd thy mitered Mentor set thee right, Thou art not Philip's Son,--nor he the Stagyrite. And lo, thy dread, thy hate! the Queen of Isles Frowns at thy guilt, ând at thy menace smiles; Free of her treasure, freer of her blood, She summons all the brave, the great, the good. And last, to fix thy fate and seal thy doom, Her bugle note shall Scotia stern resume, 300 Shall grasp her Highland brand, her plaided bonnet plume: From hill and dale, from hamlet, heath, and wood, She pours her dark, resistless, battle-flood. Breathe there a race, that from the approving hand Of Nature, more deserve, or less demand? So skill'd to wake the lyre, or wield the sword; Victorious in the conflict, as the truce, Triumphant in a Burns, as in a Bruce! Where'er the bay, where'er the iaurel grows, Their wild notes warble, and their life-blood flows. There, Truth courts access, and would ALL engage, 316 Lavish as youth-experienced as age; Proud Science there, with purest Nature twined, In firmest thraldom holds the freest mind; While Courage rears his limbs of giant form, Rock'd by the blast, and strengthen'd by the storm! Transferr'd that title proud-The Nurse of Men,--- Train'd like their native eagle for the skies, Untam'd by toil, unconquer'd till their slain, Walls in their trenches,--whirlwinds on the plain. 320 |