リ CONCLUSION. I. "Who shall command Estrella's mountain-tide Let him stand forth and bar mine eagles' way, And they shall heed his voice, and at his bidding stay. II. "Else, ne'er to stoop, till high on Lisbon's towers Thus, on the summit of Alverca's rock, And smiled like Eden in her summer dress;- III. And shall the boastful Chief maintain his word, Though Heaven hath heard the wailings of the land, Though Lusitania whet her vengeful sword, Though Britons arm, and WELLINGTON Command! No: grim Busaco's iron ridge shall stand An adamantine barrier to his force! And from its base shall wheel his shatter'd band, As from the unshaken rock the torrent hoarse Bears off its broken waves, and seeks a devious course. 1 have ventured to apply to the movements of the French army that sublime passage in the prophecies of Juel, Chap, ii. 3. "A fro devoureth before them, and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness, yea, and nothing shall escape them," IV. Yet not because Alcoba's mountain-hawk sum The myriads that had half the world subdued, And hear the distant thunders of the drum, That bids the band of France to storm and havoc come. Four moons have heard these thunders idly roll'd, At length they move-but not to battle-fray, To damn with double shame their ignominious flight! O triumph for the Fiends of Lust and wrath! Childhood and age given o'er to sword and flame, Woman to infamy; no crime forgot, By which inventive dæmons might proclaim Immortal hate to Man, and scorn of God's great name! VII. The rudest sentinel, in Britain born, With horror paused to view the havoc done. Gave his poor crust to feed some wretch forlorn, Wiped his stern eye, then fiercer grasp "d his gun. Even the unexampled gallantry of the British army in the campaign of 1810-11, although they never fought bus to ovaques, Nor with less zeal shall Britain's peaceful son Riches nor poverty the tax shall shun, Nor prince nor peer, the wealthy nor the gay, Nor the poor peasant's mite, nor bard's more worthless lay. But thou-unfoughten wilt thou yield to Fate, Marcella s pass, nor Guarda's mountain chain? Behold, where, named by some Prophetic Seer, Flows Honour's Fountain, as fore-doom'd the stain From thy dishonour'd name and arms to clearFallen Child of Fortune, turn, redeem her favour here !+ IX. Yet, ere thou turn'st, collect each distant aid: Marshal each band thou hast, and summon more; And weary out his arm-thou canst not quell his soul. X. O vainly gleams with steel Agueda's shore, Wild from his plaided ranks the yell was given will do then less honour in history than their humanity to the famished Spaniards, whom they fed as well as defended, even when they were themselves reduced to short allowance. The literal translation of Fuentes d Henoro, + Masseua, frequently called the Spoilt child of Victory. The gallint Colonel Cameron was wounded mortally during the desperate contest in the streets of the village called Fuentos Vengeance and grief gave mountain rage the rein, And, at the bloody spear-point headlong driven, Thy Despot's giant guards fled like the rack of heaven. XL Go, baffled Boaster! teach thy haughty mood And if he chafe, be his own fortune tried- XII. But ye, the heroes of that well-fought day, Or bind on every brow the laurels won? rave. XIII. Yes! hard the task, when Britons wield the sword, And red Barossa shouts for dauntless GRAME! O for a verse of tumult and of flame, Bold as the bursting of their cannon sound, With conquest's well-bought wreath were braver d'Honoro. He fell at the head of his native Highlanders, the 71st and 79th, who raised a dreadful shriek of grief and rage. They charged, with irresistible fury, the finest body of French grenadiers ever seen, being a part of Buonaparte's selected guard, and bore them out of the contested ground at the point of the bayonet. XIV. O who shall grudge him Albuera's bays, And raised fair Lusitania's fallen shield, And gave new edge to Lusitania's sword, And taught her sons forgotten arms to wieldShiver'd my harp, and burst its every chord, If it forget thy worth, victorious BERESFORD! XV. Not on that bloody field of battle won, away, Was half his self-devoted valour shown,- He braved the shafts of censure and of shame, And, dearer far than life, he pledged a soldier's fame. XVI. Nor be his praise o'erpass'd who strove to hide Beneath the warrior's vest affection's wound, Whose wish, Heaven for his country's weal denied; Danger and fate he sought, but glory found. From clime to clime, where'er war's trumpets sound, The wanderer went; yet, Caledonia! still Thine was his thought in march and tented ground; He dreamed 'mid Alpine cliffs of Athole's hill, And heard in Ebro's roar his Lyndoch's lovely rill Field-Marshal Beresford, was contented to undertake all the hazard of obloquy which might have been founded upon any miscarriage in the highly important experiment of training the Por tuguese troops to an improved state of discipline. His generous devotedness was amply rewarded by the conduct and valour of the soldiers during the whole course of the war. |