The miscellaneous works of David Humphreys Late Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States of America to the Court of Madrid |
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 | The miscellaneous works of David Humphreys |  |
There, Washington! thy form unrivall'd rose,
Thy country's bulwark! terror of the foes!
Supreme o'er all in stature, talents, grace,
The first in merit as the first in place.
There stood, in tactics skill'd, the vet'ran Gates,
A strenuous victor for the northern states:
He, too, at Braddock's field, in early life,
Had shar'd with Washington that dreadful strife.
Next Greene appear'd, with self-earn'd knowledge fraught,
The strongest judgment and intensest thought—
Experience small by genius great supplied,
His firmness growing as new perils tried—
Fertile in each resource—his piercing view
Intuitively look'd creation through—
Clear in his breast the whole campaign was plann'd,
Foredoom'd by heav'n to save our southern land.
His body rough with scars, near Gates and Greene,
Unletter'd Putnam's louring brow was seen;
Stern as he stood, none more for woe could feel,
His heart all softness, but his nerves all steel;
In peace a lamb, in fight a lion fierce,
And not a name more honour'd decks my verse.
In life's bleak winter Spencer ardent rose,
But faint the flesh, and soon to seek repose.
With silver'd locks the fiery Stirling came,
O'er old experience blaz'd still new a flame;
A furnace glow'd his eye—and grand his port,
Alike was fitted for a camp or court.
Then Sullivan, to rival pomp inclin'd,
Few equals knew for native pow'rs of mind.
Where Ward commanded first, Heath's second sway
Of Massachusetts led the long array;
Before whose thousands Lincoln took his post,
Serene, decisive, and himself a host:
From midland meads here crowds of farmers join,
With Patterson's brigade, that lengthening line;
Two more brigades which yeomen stout compose,
Nixon and Greaton form in face of foes;
Where Glover's call conducts his docile tars,
Neptunean sons adopted now by Mars!
Like changing metals mingled bands convolve,
One solid corps that nothing can dissolve.
There Knox the mortars, fill'd with tempest, taught
To raise their roar. There Morgan's woodsmen fought,
Whose rifle-balls that urg'd the sylvan war,
In nobler chace now carry fate afar.
Thy country's bulwark! terror of the foes!
Supreme o'er all in stature, talents, grace,
The first in merit as the first in place.
There stood, in tactics skill'd, the vet'ran Gates,
A strenuous victor for the northern states:
He, too, at Braddock's field, in early life,
Had shar'd with Washington that dreadful strife.
Next Greene appear'd, with self-earn'd knowledge fraught,
The strongest judgment and intensest thought—
Experience small by genius great supplied,
His firmness growing as new perils tried—
Fertile in each resource—his piercing view
Intuitively look'd creation through—
Clear in his breast the whole campaign was plann'd,
Foredoom'd by heav'n to save our southern land.
His body rough with scars, near Gates and Greene,
Unletter'd Putnam's louring brow was seen;
Stern as he stood, none more for woe could feel,
His heart all softness, but his nerves all steel;
In peace a lamb, in fight a lion fierce,
And not a name more honour'd decks my verse.
In life's bleak winter Spencer ardent rose,
But faint the flesh, and soon to seek repose.
With silver'd locks the fiery Stirling came,
O'er old experience blaz'd still new a flame;
A furnace glow'd his eye—and grand his port,
Alike was fitted for a camp or court.
Then Sullivan, to rival pomp inclin'd,
Few equals knew for native pow'rs of mind.
Where Ward commanded first, Heath's second sway
Of Massachusetts led the long array;
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Serene, decisive, and himself a host:
From midland meads here crowds of farmers join,
With Patterson's brigade, that lengthening line;
Two more brigades which yeomen stout compose,
Nixon and Greaton form in face of foes;
Where Glover's call conducts his docile tars,
Neptunean sons adopted now by Mars!
Like changing metals mingled bands convolve,
One solid corps that nothing can dissolve.
There Knox the mortars, fill'd with tempest, taught
To raise their roar. There Morgan's woodsmen fought,
Whose rifle-balls that urg'd the sylvan war,
In nobler chace now carry fate afar.
| The miscellaneous works of David Humphreys | |