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Here, linked with Thrace, in close battalions

stand

Ausonia's sons, a soft inglorious band;

There the stern Norman joins the Austrian train,
And the dark tribes of late reviving Spain;
Here in black files, advancing firin and slow,
Victorious Albion twangs the deadly bow:-
Albion, still prompt the captive's wrong to aid
And wield in freedom's cause the freeman's gen-
erous blade.

Ye sainted spirits of the warrior dead,
Whose giant force Britannia's armies led,
Whose bickering falchions, foremost in the fight,
Still poured confusion on the Soldan's might;
Lords of the biting axe and beamy spear,
Wide conquering Edward, lion Richard, hear.
At Albion's call your crested pride resume,
And burst the marble slumbers of the tomb.
Your sons behold, in arm, in heart the same,
Still press the footsteps of parental fame,
To Salem still their generous aid supply,
And pluck the palin of Syrian chivalry.
When he, from towery Malta's yielding isle,
And the green waters of reluctant Nile,
Th'apostate chief,-from Misraim's subject shore
To Acre's walls his trophied banners bore;
When the pale desert inarked his proud array,

And Desolation hoped an ampler sway;
What hero then triumphant Gaul dismayed?
What arm repelled the victor renegade?
Britannia's champion :-bathed in hostile blood,
High on the breach the dauntless seaman stood;
Admiring Asia saw th' unequal fight,—

E'en the pale cresent blessed the Christian's might.

O day of death; O thirst, beyond control,
Of crimson conquest in th' invader's soul.
The slain, yet warm, by social footsteps trod,
O'er the red moat supplied a panting road;
O'er the red moat our conquering thunders flew,
And loftier still the grisly rampire grew.

While proudly glowed above the rescued tower
The wavy cross that marked Britannia's power.
Yet still destruction sweeps the lonely plain,
And heroes lift the generous sword in vain.
Still o'er her sky the clouds of anger roll,
And God's revenge hangs heavy on her soul.
Yet shall she rise ;-but not by war restored,
Not built in murder-planted by the sword.
Yes, Salem, thou shalt rise; thy Father's aid
Shall heal the wound his chastening hand has
made,

Shall judge the proud oppressor's ruthless sway,

And burst his brazen bonds, and cast his cords

away.

Then on your tops shall deathless verdure spring;
Break forth, ye mountains, and, ye valleys,sing.
No more your thirsty rocks shall frown forlorn,
The unbeliever's jest, the heathen's scorn;
The sultry sands shall tenfold harvests yield,
And a new Eden deck the thorny field.
E'en now, perchance, wide waving o'er the land,
That mighty angel lifts his golden wand,
Courts the bright vision of descending power,
Tells every gate, and measures every tower,
And chides the tardy seals that yet detain
Thy Lion, Judah, from his destined reign.
And who is He? the vast, the awful form,
Girt with the whirlwind, sandaled with the

storm?

A western cloud around his limbs is spread,
His crown a rainbow, and a sun his head,
To highest heaven he lifts his kingly hand,
And treads at once the ocean and the land;
And, hark his voice amid the thunder's roar,
His dreadful voice, that time shall be no more.
Lo, cherub hands the golden courts prepare,
Lo, thrones arise, and every saint is there.
Earth's utmost bounds confess their awful sway,
The mountains worship, and the isles obey.

Nor sun nor moon they need,-nor day, nor

night;

God is their temple, and the Lamb their light.
And shall not Israel's sons exulting come,
Hail the glad beam,and claim their ancient home?
On David's throne shall David's offspring reign,
And the dry bones be warm with life again.
Hark, white-robed crowds their deep hosannas
raise,

And the hoarse flood repeats the sound of praise.
Ten thousand harps attune the mystic song,

Ten thousand thousand saints the strain prolong: 'Worthy the Lamb, omnipotent to save,

Who died, who lives, triumphant o'er the grave.'

EUROPE:

LINES ON THE PRESENT WAR.

WRITTEN IN 1809.

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