Poems and miscellanies selected from the writings of Miss Eliza Townsend Printed but not published |
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A BALLAD
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 | Poems and miscellanies selected from the writings of Miss Eliza Townsend |  |
99
A BALLAD
OCCASIONED BY THE LATE FATAL COMBAT ON THE MARYLAND BORDER.
[1823.]
And
thou too gone!—whose name can raise
The Spirits of romantic rhyme,
The legends of departed days,
The chronicle of elder time;
The Spirits of romantic rhyme,
The legends of departed days,
The chronicle of elder time;
Art thou THUS gone?—who haply placed
In sable Edward's warlike age,
Chaucer's chivalric lines had graced,
Or sparkled from Froissart's page!—
In sable Edward's warlike age,
Chaucer's chivalric lines had graced,
Or sparkled from Froissart's page!—
For not in camp or tourney high,
Could knight or noble e'er be seen,
Of manlier form or keener eye,
More dauntless heart or courteous mien.
Could knight or noble e'er be seen,
Of manlier form or keener eye,
More dauntless heart or courteous mien.
100
And ne'er was fealty more strong
In vassal train of feudal lord,
Than glowed among that hardier throng
Who waited on thy martial word.
In vassal train of feudal lord,
Than glowed among that hardier throng
Who waited on thy martial word.
Witness his deeds whose prompt relief
'Twixt thee and fate, sprang undismayed,
With his own forehead fenced his chief,
And met the Moslem's cleaving blade!
'Twixt thee and fate, sprang undismayed,
With his own forehead fenced his chief,
And met the Moslem's cleaving blade!
Glory to both! to him whose zeal
With loyal heart could burn so high;
To thee who sought the seaman's weal
Till for thy sake he dared to die.
With loyal heart could burn so high;
To thee who sought the seaman's weal
Till for thy sake he dared to die.
Where naval Carthage towered sublime,
Cumbers the mosque degen'rate earth;
And dozing beys debase the clime
Where Hannibal received his birth.
Cumbers the mosque degen'rate earth;
And dozing beys debase the clime
Where Hannibal received his birth.
Where old Phenicia's friendly sails
Afar her gen'rous products bore,
Our age beheld the recr'ant gales
Waft to his prey the robber Moor.
Afar her gen'rous products bore,
Our age beheld the recr'ant gales
Waft to his prey the robber Moor.
101
The oath that bound Hamilian's heir,
On Rome alone its vengeance hurled;
More fell than Punic ruffian's swear—
Eternal wrath to all the world.
On Rome alone its vengeance hurled;
More fell than Punic ruffian's swear—
Eternal wrath to all the world.
And emp'rors, kings, and prince or peers,
The Briton, Spaniard, Belgian, Gaul,
Had warred for half a hundred years
To break that yoke that foiled them all.
The Briton, Spaniard, Belgian, Gaul,
Had warred for half a hundred years
To break that yoke that foiled them all.
E'en there our mountain eagle flew,
Fresh in his fierceness from the West,
Kept his bold course, untired and true,
And soared above the Moorish crest.
Fresh in his fierceness from the West,
Kept his bold course, untired and true,
And soared above the Moorish crest.
Through black'ning tempests round him thrown,
His stormy baldrick scattered day,
And as its conq'ring splendors shone,
Trembled the crescent's pallid ray.
His stormy baldrick scattered day,
And as its conq'ring splendors shone,
Trembled the crescent's pallid ray.
Amid that glorious list of men
Foremost we still distinguish thee,
Who broke the Christian captives' chain,
And freed the mighty middle sea!
Foremost we still distinguish thee,
Who broke the Christian captives' chain,
And freed the mighty middle sea!
102
And while the merchant's argosy
Securely o'er the sea shall roam,
Shall he not bless the thought of thee,
Who drove the pagan pirate home?
Securely o'er the sea shall roam,
Shall he not bless the thought of thee,
Who drove the pagan pirate home?
The shades of that crusading band
Who once the Soldan's host o'erthrew,
Hailed kindred prowess from their hand
'Gainst that same misbelieving crew.
Who once the Soldan's host o'erthrew,
Hailed kindred prowess from their hand
'Gainst that same misbelieving crew.
Whilst fire, and flood, and sword, and storm,
And every form of death was there,
Shrank the fierce Turk before that form
That seemed “a charmed life to wear.”
And every form of death was there,
Shrank the fierce Turk before that form
That seemed “a charmed life to wear.”
And when he saw thy galiot's prow
Through threefold forces cut its room,
Deemed that predestined hour was nigh
When Allah willed his children's doom;
Through threefold forces cut its room,
Deemed that predestined hour was nigh
When Allah willed his children's doom;
Saw thy brave brother's life expire,
And scimitars surrounding clashed,
But swift dilating in his ire,
On to his march the Avenger dashed;
And scimitars surrounding clashed,
But swift dilating in his ire,
On to his march the Avenger dashed;
103
Singly, five foeman's blades thrust by,
Rushed to the wretch that wrought his fall,
And sent the death-stroke from thine eye
Before he felt it from thy ball.
Rushed to the wretch that wrought his fall,
And sent the death-stroke from thine eye
Before he felt it from thy ball.
Nor chief the Saracen to quell
Sufficed thy conq'ring arm to crown;
Before that arm a trophy, fell
The lion banner of renown!
Sufficed thy conq'ring arm to crown;
Before that arm a trophy, fell
The lion banner of renown!
Though since, that banner turned by fate
To those who first its ensigns wore,
Thy soul in victory unelate
Its failure undejected bore.
To those who first its ensigns wore,
Thy soul in victory unelate
Its failure undejected bore.
Did chance or change thy course invade,
Like clouds that tinge Italian skies,
They did but soften by their shade
The dizzying radiance of its dyes.
Like clouds that tinge Italian skies,
They did but soften by their shade
The dizzying radiance of its dyes.
O! who that through our firmament,
To mark thy radiant pathway, stood,
Had thought, ere half the day was spent,
To see that sun go down in blood?
To mark thy radiant pathway, stood,
Had thought, ere half the day was spent,
To see that sun go down in blood?
104
For sunk in powerless sleep is he
Who once a nation's bolts could throw,
And Moorish ghosts have laughed at thee,
To see a Christian lay thee low.
Who once a nation's bolts could throw,
And Moorish ghosts have laughed at thee,
To see a Christian lay thee low.
Long gazed upon that glorious scene,
The Genius of thy country near;
Now, more in sorrow than in wrath,
He turns him from thy gory bier!
The Genius of thy country near;
Now, more in sorrow than in wrath,
He turns him from thy gory bier!
From all the scenes that formed the past
His partial glance alone would see,
And bid oblivion screen the last,
Could it o'ershadow aught of thee.
His partial glance alone would see,
And bid oblivion screen the last,
Could it o'ershadow aught of thee.
Yet, 'mid thy fault, I fondly view
No selfish jar, no private feud—
Though rash and dire the means—as true,
Their object was thy country's good;
No selfish jar, no private feud—
Though rash and dire the means—as true,
Their object was thy country's good;
Such love that heart thy country gave;
To it thy life, thy death was given,
Prizing its cause, its service, more
Than aught of earth—alas! or Heaven.
To it thy life, thy death was given,
Prizing its cause, its service, more
Than aught of earth—alas! or Heaven.
105
That parent country wails aloud
The fav'rite of so many years,
And would upbraid him, but his shroud
Changes her chidings into tears!
The fav'rite of so many years,
And would upbraid him, but his shroud
Changes her chidings into tears!
“Son of my strength,” I hear her cry,
“I bless thee in this last adieu!
E'en I forgive thou thus should die;
God, of his grace, forgive it, too!”
“I bless thee in this last adieu!
E'en I forgive thou thus should die;
God, of his grace, forgive it, too!”
| Poems and miscellanies selected from the writings of Miss Eliza Townsend | |