University of Virginia Library

Fortune, that with capricious smile
Lures and deludes the eager throng,
Most loves the wary to beguile:
To bend the proud, to break the strong;
And now in her accustomed way,
With frowns for smiles, she turns to meet
The Briton's insolence of sway,
And change his triumph to defeat;
Ebbs the full tide, the crimson flush
Of conquest sinks in deepening gloom,
From vale and glen, the swelling rush
Of numbers tells his coming doom;
Sumter's indomitable will,
And Pickens with adroiter skill
Their fiery followers lead again
To sweep the posts of hill and plain;
And Greene, his country's sword and shield,
With troops now trained to war's array,
Hurries from Guilford's bloody field
To drive the leopard from his prey:
He comes—the foe no longer dares
His wasted squadrons to divide,
But from each distant post prepares
To draw his forces to his side.
Now far and near, with slackened rein,
Shall Marion's troopers scour the plain,
From golden fields of Waccanaw,
To where in wider circuit flow
The southern floods of Edisto,
His sword is government and law;
He sweeps the country from the main
Like autumn storms of wind and rain;
Post, fortress, vainly strive to stay
Or fetter his resistless way,
And check the fortunes of the day.
Fort Watson, from its lofty site,
Defiance dared, but dares no more;
From logs built up to loftier height
Their deadly shot the yeomen pour,
So sharp, so true; the work is done,
The banner struck, the fortress won,
And vain for succor or relief
The message to their distant chief.
'Twas then the patriot matron gave
Her stately mansion to the flame;
She saw, to save it, was to save
The hostile fort that bore her name.
With generous haste, that scorned to pause
In honor's and her country's cause,
She lent the flaming shaft that flew
The bow that winged its way on high,
And calmly stood and smiled to view
Her cherished home in ashes lie.
While fashion's idle votaries die
Unknown, the insects of a day,
The light of immortality
Around her brow shall ever play;
In poet's tale, in minstrel's lay,
The deed shall never be forgot,
And history's pages shall display,
For aye, the gentle name of Motte.
In maiden's song it finds a place,
Its sweetest ornament and grace;
On every tongue, a household word,
That honored name is ever heard.
Taught by devotion pure and warm
Like this, each manly bosom glows,
It lends his cause a brighter charm,
It gives new force to Freedom's blows;
Resistless now her arms shall sweep
The proud invader to the deep.

No more shall Carolina lie
Prostrate in mortal agony,
No longer shall her valleys feel
The accursed tramp of hostile heel,
Nor, day by day, shall field or flood
Be stained with streams of native blood;
But ever on, her foot shall climb
The heights of fame to endless time,
And trophies won in war or peace
By gallant sons, shall never cease.

Bright as thy skies, my native land,
In glory's path thy steps shall shine.
No braver heart nor readier hand,
At honor's call, shall come than thine.
Where fight the foremost, ever there
Thy sword shall cross the haughtiest foe;
No flag in victory's proud career
A nobler place than thine shall know.
No eloquence in Senate hall,
Of bolder tone or loftier flight,
Shall crush the false, the base appall,
Uphold and vindicate the right.
By Freedom's arc and altar, none
Keep watch and ward with keener eye,
With deeper scorn, the traitor shun,
Clear in their hallowed ministry.

Nor yet has earth's supremest race
Borne forms and faces more divine
In virgin loveliness and grace,
More soft, more bright, more pure than thine;
The gifts, sweet look, sweet speech, sweet thought,
The maiden gifts of Chaucer's lay,
None live of earth more richly fraught
With all these gentle gifts than they.
So ever onward by thy course,
So brave thy sons, thy daughters chaste,
And never be by fraud or force
Thy honors stained, thy arms defaced.
Proudly, with flashing eye of scorn,
Look down, if slander dare defame,
No lying tongue of woman born
Shall taint the lustre of thy name:
Too high, too bright, thy glorious sphere
For carrion birds to shelter there.