Their limbs all iron, and their souls all flame,
A countless host, the red-cross warriors came;
E'en hoary priests the sacred combat wage,
And clothe in steel the palsied arm of age;
While beardless youths and tender maids assume
The weighty morion and the glancing plume.
In bashful pride the warrior virgins wield
The ponderous falchion, and the sun-like shield,
And start to see their armour's iron gleam
Dance with blue lustre in Tabaria's stream †.
The blood-red banner floating o'er their van,
All madly blithe the mingled myriads ran :
Impatient Death beheld his destin'd food,
And hovering vultures snuff'd the scent of blood.
Not such the numbers nor the host so dread
By northern Brenn, or Scythian Timur led †,
Nor such the heart-inspiring zeal that bore
United Greece to Phrygia's reedy shore!

320

*

330

There Gaul's proud knights with boastful mien advance §,

Form the long line, and shake the cornel lance ||;

Established as a check to the Mahometans, Italy, and the scanty remnant of Christianity in Spain, must again have fallen into their power; and France herself have needed all the heroism and good fortune of a Charles Martel to deliver her from subjugation.

*See Vertot, Hist. Chev. Malthe. liv. 1.

Tabaria (a corruption of Tiberias) is the name used for the Sea

of Galilee in the old Romances.

Brennus, and Tamerlane.

The insolence of the French nobles twice caused the ruin of the army; once by refusing to serve under Cœur de Lion, and again by reproaching the English with cowardice in St. Louis's expedition to Egypt. See Knolles's History of the Turks.

The line (combat à la baye) according to Sir Walter Raleigh, was characteristic of French tactics; as the column (berse) was of the English. The English at Créçi were drawn up thirty deep.

340

Here, link'd with Thrace in close battalions stand
Ausonia's sons, a soft, inglorious band;
There the stern Norman joins the Austrian train,
And the dark tribes of late reviving Spain;
Here, in black files, advancing firm and slow,
Victorious Albion twangs the deadly bow:-
Albion, still prompt the captive's wrong to aid,
And wield in freedom's cause the freeman's generous
blade!

Ye sainted spirits of the warrior dead,
Whose giant force Britannia's armies led *!
Whose bickering falchions, foremost in the fight,
Still pour'd confusion on the Soldan's might;
Lords of the biting axe and beamy spear †,
Wide-conquering Edward, lion Richard, hear!-
At Albion's call your crested pride resume,
And burst the marble slumbers of the tomb!
Your sons behold, in arm, in heart the same,
Still press the footsteps of parental fame,
To Salem still their generous aid supply,
And pluck the palm of Syrian chivalry!
When he, from towery Malta's yielding isle,
And the green waters of reluctant Nile,

350

360

The' Apostate Chief,-from Misraim's subject shore To Acre's walls his trophied banners bore;

*All the British nations served under the same banner. Sono gl' Inglesi sagittari ed hanno

Gente con lor, ch' è più vicina al polo:

Questi de l' alte selve irsuti manda

La divisa dal mondo, ultima Irlanda.

Tasso, Gierusal. Cant. I. 44.

Ireland and Scotland, it is scarcely necessary to observe, were synonimous.

+ The axe of Richard was very famous. See Warton's Hist, of Engl. Poetry, I. 155.

When the pale desart mark'd his proud array,
And Desolation hop'd an ampler sway ;
What hero then triumphant Gaul dismay'd?
What arm repell'd the victor Renegade ?
Britannia's champion !—bath'd in hostile blood,
High on the breach the dauntless SEAMAN stood:
Admiring Asia saw the' unequal fight,—

380

E'en the pale crescent bless'd the Christian's might. 370
Oh day of death! oh thirst, beyond controul,
Of crimson conquest in the' Invader's soul!
The slain, yet warm, by social footsteps trod,
O'er the red moat supply'd a panting road;
O'er the red moat our conquering thunders flew,
And loftier still the grisly rampire grew.
While proudly glow'd above the rescue'd tower
The wavy cross that mark'd Britannia's power.
Yet still destruction sweeps the lonely plain,
And heroes lift the generous sword in vain.
Still o'er her sky the clouds of anger roll,
And God's revenge hangs heavy on her soul.
Yet shall she rise ;-but not by war restor'd,
Not built in murder,-planted by the sword.
Yes, Salem, thou shalt rise: thy Father's aid
Shall heal the wound His chastening hand has made;
Shall judge the proud oppressor's ruthless sway,
And burst his brazen bonds, and cast his cords away
Then on your tops shall deathless verdure spring † ;
Break forth, ye mountains, and ye vallies, sing! 390
No more your thirsty rocks shall frown forlorn,
The unbeliever's jest, the heathen's scorn;

*Psalm ii. 3. cvii. 16.

"I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more the reproach of famine among the heathen."-" And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden," &c. Ezek. xxxvi.

The sultry sands shall tenfold harvests yield,
And a new Eden deck the thorny field.
E'en now, perhaps, wide waving o'er the land,
The mighty Angel lifts his golden wand *;
Courts the bright vision of descending power †,
Tells every gate, and measures every tower;
And chides the tardy seals that yet detain
Thy Lion, Judah, from his destin'd reign.

400

And who is He? the vast, the awful form, Girt with the whirlwind, sandal'd with the storm? A western cloud around his limbs is spread, His crown a rainbow, and a sun his head. To highest heaven he lifts his kingly hand, And treads at once the ocean and the land: And hark! his voice amid the thunder's roar, His dreadful voice, that time shall be no more! Lo! cherub hands the golden courts prepare, Lo! thrones are set, and every saint is there §; Earth's utmost bounds confess their awful sway, The mountains worship, and the isles obey; Nor sun nor moon they need,-nor day, nor night || ;God is their Temple, and the Lamb their light. And shall not Israel's sons exulting come, Hail the glad beam, and claim their ancient home? On David's throne shall David's offspring reign, And the dry bones be warm with life again ¶.

* Ezek. xl.

410

"That great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God." Rev. xxi. 10. + Rev. x.

§ Ibid. xx.

"And I saw no Temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof " Rev. xxi. 22.

"Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones, Behold, I will.

Hark! white-rob'd crowds their deep hosannas raise, And the hoarse flood repeats the sound of praise; 420 Ten thousand harps attune the mystic song,

Ten thousand thousand saints the strain prolong ;"Worthy the Lamb! omnipotent to save,

"Who die'd, who lives, triumphant o'er the grave!"

cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live."" Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel." Ezek. xxxvii.