LITMIR.BIZ

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        Kingdoms and empires in thy fortune join,

        And Europe's destiny depends on thine.

           At length the long-disputed pass they gain,

        By crowded armies fortified in vain;

        The war breaks in, the fierce Bavarians yield,

        And see their camp with British legions filled.

        So Belgian mounds bear on their shattered sides

        The sea's whole weight, increased with swelling tides;

        But if the rushing wave a passage finds,

        Enraged by watery moons, and warring winds,

        The trembling peasant sees his country round

        Covered with tempests, and in oceans drowned.

           The few surviving foes dispersed in flight,

        (Refuse of swords, and gleanings of a fight,)

        In every rustling wind the victor hear,

        And Marlborough's form in every shadow fear,

        Till the dark cope of night with kind embrace

        Befriends the rout, and covers their disgrace.

           To Donawert, with unresisted force,

        The gay, victorious army bends its course.

        The growth of meadows, and the pride of fields,

        Whatever spoils Bavaria's summer yields,

        (The Danube's great increase,) Britannia shares,

        The food of armies, and support of wars:

        With magazines of death, destructive balls,

        And cannons doomed to batter Landau's walls,

        The victor finds each hidden cavern stored,

        And turns their fury on their guilty lord.

           Deluded prince! how is thy greatness crossed,

        And all the gaudy dream of empire lost,

        That proudly set thee on a fancied throne,

        And made imaginary realms thy own!

        Thy troops that now behind the Danube join,

        Shall shortly seek for shelter from the Rhine,

        Nor find it there: surrounded with alarms,

        Thou hopest the assistance of the Gallic arms;

        The Gallic arms in safety shall advance,

        And crowd thy standards with the power of France,

        While to exalt thy doom, the aspiring Gaul

        Shares thy destruction, and adorns thy fall.

           Unbounded courage and compassion joined,

        Tempering each other in the victor's mind,

        Alternately proclaim him good and great,

        And make the hero and the man complete.

        Long did he strive the obdurate foe to gain

        By proffered grace, but long he strove in vain;

        Till fired at length, he thinks it vain to spare

        His rising wrath, and gives a loose to war.

        In vengeance roused, the soldier fills his hand

        With sword and fire, and ravages the land,

        A thousand villages to ashes turns,

        In crackling flames a thousand harvests burns.

        To the thick woods the woolly flocks retreat,

        And mixed with bellowing herds confus'dly bleat;

        Their trembling lords the common shade partake,

        And cries of infants sound in every brake:

        The listening soldier fixed in sorrow stands,

        Loth to obey his leader's just commands;

        The leader grieves, by generous pity swayed,

        To see his just commands so well obeyed.

           But now the trumpet, terrible from far,

        In shriller clangors animates the war,

        Confederate drums in fuller consort beat,

        And echoing hills the loud alarm repeat:

        Gallia's proud standards, to Bavaria's joined,

        Unfurl their gilded lilies in the wind;

        The daring prince his blasted hopes renews,

        And while the thick embattled host he views

        Stretched out in deep array, and dreadful length,

        His heart dilates, and glories in his strength.

           The fatal day its mighty course began,

        That the grieved world had long desired in vain:

        States that their new captivity bemoaned,

        Armies of martyrs that in exile groaned,

        Sighs from the depth of gloomy dungeons heard,

        And prayers in bitterness of soul preferred,

        Europe's loud cries, that Providence assailed,

        And Anna's ardent vows, at length prevailed;

        The day was come when heaven designed to show

        His care and conduct of the world below.

           Behold, in awful march and dread array

        The long-expected squadrons shape their way!

        Death, in approaching terrible, imparts

        An anxious horror to the bravest hearts;

        Yet do their beating breasts demand the strife,

        And thirst of glory quells the love of life.

        No vulgar fears can British minds control:

        Heat of revenge and noble pride of soul

        O'erlook the foe, advantaged by his post,

        Lessen his numbers, and contract his host.

        Though fens and floods possessed the middle space,

        That unprovoked they would have feared to pass,

        Nor fens nor floods can stop Britannia's bands,

        When her proud foe ranged on their borders stands.

           But, O my Muse, what numbers wilt thou find

        To sing the furious troops in battle joined!

        Methinks I hear the drum's tumultuous sound

        The victor's shouts and dying groans confound,

        The dreadful burst of cannon rend the skies,

        And all the thunder of the battle rise.

        'Twas then great Marlborough's mighty soul was proved,

        That, in the shock of charging hosts unmoved,

        Amidst confusion, horror, and despair,

        Examined all the dreadful scenes of war;

        In peaceful thought the field of death surveyed,

        To fainting squadrons sent the timely aid,

        Inspired repulsed battalions to engage,

        And

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