The Poetical Works of Percival Stockdale In two volumes |
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 | II. |
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ON THE SECOND MEMORABLE VICTORY, AT ABOUKIR. |
 | The Poetical Works of Percival Stockdale |  |
319
ON THE SECOND MEMORABLE VICTORY, AT ABOUKIR.
1801.
What favoured bard can sing as Britons fight!
Some glorious Milton on the theme should write.
Yet, for the tribute of ingenuous praise,
True criticks will approve imperfect lays.
Some glorious Milton on the theme should write.
Yet, for the tribute of ingenuous praise,
True criticks will approve imperfect lays.
Parent of wealth, and arts! all-fruitful Nile!
Doomed, in late years, on England's fame to smile;
Doomed to exalt our celebrated isle;
And, say, can all thy boasted records claim
Aught more illustrious than the British name?
What though thy pyramids, immensely high,
From their vast bases rise, and threat the sky;
What, in thy annals, though Sesostris reigns,
The mighty Lord of Asia's distant plains;—
What, though of science Egypt was the tree;
And various learning ramified from thee!
No greater prodigy thy history shows
Than Britons moving to their Gallick foes.
The tar; the soldier, every danger braves;
Alike intrepid on the land, and waves.
In rows terrifick, from the hostile shore,
Pregnant with fate, in vain the cannons roar;
Ardent each hero sails, or marches on,
Anticipating death, or laurels won;
This maxim painted on his mental eye;
“The brave live honoured, and lamented die.”
The annoying mountain; the French army finds
Heights far superior in our English minds.
Doomed, in late years, on England's fame to smile;
Doomed to exalt our celebrated isle;
And, say, can all thy boasted records claim
Aught more illustrious than the British name?
What though thy pyramids, immensely high,
From their vast bases rise, and threat the sky;
320
The mighty Lord of Asia's distant plains;—
What, though of science Egypt was the tree;
And various learning ramified from thee!
No greater prodigy thy history shows
Than Britons moving to their Gallick foes.
The tar; the soldier, every danger braves;
Alike intrepid on the land, and waves.
In rows terrifick, from the hostile shore,
Pregnant with fate, in vain the cannons roar;
Ardent each hero sails, or marches on,
Anticipating death, or laurels won;
This maxim painted on his mental eye;
“The brave live honoured, and lamented die.”
The annoying mountain; the French army finds
Heights far superior in our English minds.
But when will Peace resume her golden reign!
When shall we cease to mourn our heroes slain;
Fancy reposing on Arcadia's plain!
When shall we cease to mourn our heroes slain;
Fancy reposing on Arcadia's plain!
The stream of Providence unerring flows;
All glory still it moderates with woes;
They by celestial wisdom are applied,
To temper human joy, and human pride.
Thus, when the favourite theme of British praise
Caught a new splendour in our Nelson's days;
When England's military standard bore
Peculiar honours not acquired before;
The king of terrours, in the martial fray,
Marked with more dire events the prosperous day;
Heaven's awful agent, for his ruthless dart,
Was watchful to select some generous heart:
And to refine on every dreadful aim;
To balance fortune, and to balance fame;
That grief most pungent might embalm the dead,
The brave, the virtuous Abercromby bled!
All glory still it moderates with woes;
321
To temper human joy, and human pride.
Thus, when the favourite theme of British praise
Caught a new splendour in our Nelson's days;
When England's military standard bore
Peculiar honours not acquired before;
The king of terrours, in the martial fray,
Marked with more dire events the prosperous day;
Heaven's awful agent, for his ruthless dart,
Was watchful to select some generous heart:
And to refine on every dreadful aim;
To balance fortune, and to balance fame;
That grief most pungent might embalm the dead,
The brave, the virtuous Abercromby bled!
Lesbury, near Alnwick, Northumberland, May 23d, 1801.
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