 | The Stanzas Of An English Friend To The Patriots Of Spain |  |
Arma parate, animis et spe præsumite bellum!
Virgil.
THE STANZAS, &c.
1
What cheering glance of heavenly light,What joyous sound from Calpe's height
Through nations, waken'd to new virtue, runs?
The flash of Freedom's lifted spear!
Her voice, that Nature leaps to hear,
Since brutal force her sense no longer stuns,
But all her spirit glows in her Iberian sons!
2
Parent of Truth! and Glory's nurse!Honour'd by foil'd Oppression's curse!
On Calpe's Rock exulting Freedom stands:
Her spear, like just Ithuriel's lance,
Touches the couching Fiend of France;
He starts, amaz'd at Freedom's circling bands,
And to Satanic size his lurking guilt expands.
3
Behold! th'Imperial Fiend recoils;Though snar'd within his treacherous toils
Entranc'd, o'erwhelm'd, the race of Bourbon lay:
For, kindling into brave disdain,
The noble pride of loyal Spain,
Bursting from darkness to the blaze of day,
Abjures the ruffian's guile, and scorns to be his prey!
4
Hail to you! brave, and patriot host!Who, on Gallicia's hardy coast,
Rush from your rocks, in adamantine swarms!
The adamant for your defence
Is injur'd Worth's indignant sense;
Your panoply, that decks, and guards, and warms,
No rust of sloth corrodes, no mist of doubt deforms.
5
Loud as the billows of your Bay,With thund'ring voice, in firm array,
You, bold Biscayans! to the world appeal:
Ye nations of the earth give ear!
Now shaking off all servile fear,
And shewing how for man, as men, ye feel,
Embrace Iberia's cause with sympathetic zeal!
6
For never, since despotic GuiltFirst trembled at the blood he spilt;
Since outrag'd earth the powers of Heav'n implor'd;
Ne'er did a people, wise, and bold,
A cause of higher claims uphold;
Or draw, to juster energy restor'd,
Stern Retribution's steel, the crime-avenging sword.
7
Never did blind despotic rage,Upon Ambition's earthly stage
Inebriate with power, with blood defil'd,
So outrage, with a ruffian's art,
The feelings of a nation's heart,
Bidding their Queen, with abject passion wild,
Dishonouring her sex, unroyalize her child.
8
Honour, who, as his throne, possestThe truly brave Castilian breast,
Thus waken'd from a long, lethargic trance,
Now through the kindred realms of Spain,
Through every warm Iberian vein,
Darts the pure force that lifts a patriot lance,
And animates the world against the guilt of France.
9
Iberia! noble-minded clime!Whose genius, on thy rocks sublime,
Has oft o'ercome Invasion's savage force!
Howe'er insulted, and betray'd,
Thou canst not call in vain for aid
To those, whom Freedom owns her sure resource
To foil oppressive Power, in his infuriate course.
10
Britain, in brave compassion blest,To succour fortitude opprest,
Her strength, her blood, with generous ardour, yields:
She views thee, Spain, with proud applause,
Kindles to rapture in thy cause,
And while thy shores her guardian navy shields,
Her sons would usher thine to Fame's sublimest fields.
11
To keep the brittle gift of life,And conquer in the noblest strife,
Heaven to the brave, and virtuous, may deny:
Yet, if his duty be fulfill'd,
A Briton's heart is never chill'd:
Though on a foreign soil his limbs may lie,
Dying in Freedom's cause, he still exults to die.
12
Yet deeply, deeply Nature sighs,While now to her prophetic eyes
Fate shews the fall of many a warrior brave;
True sons of Britain, and of Spain!
Who in their arms fraternal slain
Shall, as they pant to share a mutual grave,
Bless, with their dying breath, the land they die to save.
13
When, with the vulture's rav'ning flight,Imperial force, and fraud, excite
Their plund'ring hordes to seize a fancied prey,
Though quick to train a guardian band,
Valour, and Truth, and Freedom, stand,
Rapine's new swarms may shake their firm array,
And purest blood will flow, in many a hasty fray.
14
Yet, Spain! howe'er assail'd by foes,Of rightful warfare's happy close
Thy fervid heart can never feel despair,
While Britons with new light inspire
Thy spirit, rich in native fire!
With virtuous Amity's undaunted air
Sharing thy scorn of guilt, they in thy glory share.
15
And thou hast seen, in days of old,Our favourite chiefs with thine enroll'd,
In fields of chivalry their lances join'd;
When Edward, of the sable helm,
Display'd his virtues in thy realm,
And shew'd thy warriors, in his frame combin'd
Humanity of heart, and royalty of mind
Edward the Black Prince engaged as an ally to support Don Pedro, King of Castile (too justly styled the Cruel), against his enemies, but not without requiring from Pedro a solemn protestation that he would renounce his system of cruelty. The Prince was treated illiberally by the subtle, sanguinary monarch, and left him to the fate he deserved, as a monster of many vices. The name of Pedro the Cruel is indeed a disgrace to human nature; but for the honour of his country, it is pleasing to remark, that Spanish history, in speaking of his reign, has related one of the sublimest examples of female fortitude and fidelity, that the records of magnanimous virtue can produce. “A lady of high birth” (says the author to whom I am indebted for this memorable anecdote), “respectable for an exemplary character, and named Urraca Osorio, had a son in the party opposed to the king; for this single pretended, and perhaps involuntary crime, Don Pedro did not scruple to command her to be burned alive. This atrocity appears the more abominable, from the contrast of courage and piety displayed by a female attendant on Urraca, who, under the pretext of waiting on the last moments of her lady, to prevent the violence of torture from hurrying her into any deportment contrary to the decency of her sex, and unworthy, as she thought, of the noble Urraca Osorio, followed her into the flaming pile, persisted in remaining there, and perished in the flames that consumed her beloved mistress. This damsel, whose name it would be inexcusable not to preserve, was named Isabella D'Avalos.”
16
An English chief of later time,Of fancy wild, and soul sublime,
Bright as a comet shot athwart thy sphere;
Mordaunt! the sprightly friend of Pope!
With giant-perils pleas'd to cope!
Ambition's soldier! yet of heart sincere,
He smil'd at every dupe in Vanity's career
Charles Mordaunt, Earl of Peterborough, equally famous for his heroism and his wit: he spoke with the most lively ridicule on the follies and failings of his contemporaries, and also on his own. For his military achievements here alluded to, see the octavo volume entitled, The Earl of Peterborough's Conduct in Spain, 1707.
17
Splendidly brave, with English zeal,From them Iberians learnt to feel
England's frank spirit friendly to her power;
But though alert to yield relief,
Slight was the good each conquering chief
On Spain's vext land from Vict'ry's lap could shower,
While claims of rival kings perplex'd their passing hour.
18
They both for worthless princes fought,Unmeriting the aid they brought!
A generous people weigh'd not in the cause:
But in our clearer, brighter days,
A motive of superior praise
England's free succour to Iberia draws,
A motive of the heart! that wins the world's applause.
19
Her noble friendship would unbindA people of heroic mind,
Who deem'd by upstart Arrogance his prey,
Wake from a trance of fetter'd sleep,
Their wrongs in tears of blood to weep,
To hurl the manacles of Fraud away,
And shield their dearest rights from Usurpation's sway.
20
Blest be kind Heaven, whose gifts impartNo common warmth to Britain's heart,
Her lowliest children feel a Hero's might
If injur'd Nature claims their aid;
By no injurious power dismay'd,
In Freedom's cause they brave the sharpest fight,
Unshakeable by fear! inflexible in right!
21
Subjects and Sovereigns! who frameYour hallow'd bond for mutual fame,
And arms for mutual preservation yield!
Religiously on every breast
Be this eternal truth impress'd,
“The people's love (pure ore from Virtue's field!)
Forms Honour's highest crown and Power's securest shield.”
22
The base of amity sublime,From man to man, or clime to clime,
Virtue alone can prove by Heaven's decree;
For such the nations of the earth
Are fashion'd by congenial worth;
When each in each may kindred spirit see,
And realms in freedom blest prompt others to be free.
23
Of old we saw misguided SpainLaunch in a gloomy tyrant's reign
Her vast Armada to enslave this isle.
Now (blessed contrast!) we behold
Her sons, more honourably bold,
With thankful pride on Britain's Navy smile,
That brings them friendly arms against usurping guile.
24
Ye hosts of Heaven, whose piercing kenPervades embattled ranks of men,
Guarding the birthrights that to man belong;
Can Nature shew, in trials hard,
A scene more worthy your regard,
Than noblest nations, theme of Glory's song,
Confederate to defend the ravag'd globe from wrong?
25
And not with Freedom's arms alone,Does liberal Spain with transport own
She emulates the warmth of Britain's heart:
In mild Humanity's exploit
Bravely, and tenderly, adroit,
She follows England's life-preserving art,
And bids from rescu'd earth one loathsome pest depart.
26
Honour, with shouts of praise, will markThe course of that Iberian bark,
That round the globe spread Vaccination's name;
O'er every clime, to which she flew,
She shed the blessing, hail'd as new,
And with Philanthropy's and Friendship's aim,
On Jenner fix'd the crown of medicinal fame
An allusion to the voyage of Dr. Francis Xavier Balmis (Surgeon Extraordinary to the King of Spain), who sailed from Corunna on the 30th of November 1803, to circumnavigate the world in the cause of vaccination. He is said to have successfully vaccinated 230,000 persons in the course of his expedition. See a note to the elegant and animated poem entitled, An Address to the Royal Jennerian Society, by Mr. Dawes Worgan, printed for Longman, 1808.
27
Angelic friends to Nature's weal!Progressive science! truth! and zeal!
We hail your progress with a grateful mind:
Though Rapine's dark, and rapid, storm
May many an injur'd land deform,
Yet Heaven, in mercy with its wrath combin'd,
Still bids your influence grow, to meliorate mankind.
28
By your blest impulse we admireAllies of sympathetic fire,
Nations forbid by Nature to be foes!
Of honourable union proud,
Britain! and Spain! proclaim aloud
Your hopes the direful scene of blood to close!
Establish and protect the rescu'd world's repose!
29
Celestial guardians of our race!Freedom's and Fortitude's embrace
Your aid will prosper as your eyes approve:
Ye form'd this Isle, to grace the main,
Of Liberty a lucid fane!
Diffusing wide her gifts from power above,
The light of sacred truth! the warmth of virtuous love!
| The Stanzas Of An English Friend To The Patriots Of Spain | |