Yet writes his king in boasting tone
How grand he march'd by light of moon.*
I see him, but thou canst not; proud
He leads in front the trembling crowd,
And wisely knows, as danger's near,
"Twill fall much heaviest on his rear.
Go on, great Gen'ral, nor regard
The scoffs of every scribbling bard;
Who sings how gods, that fearful night,
Aided by miracle your fiight,
As once they used, in Homer's day,
To help weak heroes run away;
Tells how the hours, at this sad trial,
Went back, as erst on Ahaz' dial,
While British Joshua stay'd the moon
On Monmouth plains for Ajalon.
Heed not their sneers or gibes so arch,
Because she set before your march.
* General Clinton's official dispatches, giving an account of his marching from Monmouth by moonlight, furnished a subject of much pleasantry in America; where it was known that the moon had set two hours before the march began.
A small mistake! your meaning right ;
You take her influence for her light :
Her influence, which shall be your guide,
And o'er your Gen❜ralship preside.
Hence still shall teem your empty skull
With vict'ries, when the moon's at full,
Which by transition passing strange
Wane to defeats before the change.
Still shall you steer, on land or ocean,
By like eccentric lunar motion ;
Eclips'd in many a fatal crisis,
And dimm'd when Washington arises.
"And see how Fate, herself turn'd traitor,
Inverts the ancient course of nature;
And changes manners, tempers, climes,
To suit the genius of the times!
See, Bourbon forms a gen'rous plan,
New guardian of the rights of man,
And prompt in firm alliance joins
To aid the Rebels' proud designs!
Behold from realms of eastern day
His sails* innum'rous shape their way,
* In 1779, the French king sent a powerful fleet to the
In warlike line the billows sweep,
And roll the thunders of the deep!
See, low in equinoctial skies,
The western islands fall their prize;
See British flags, o'ermatch'd in might,
Put all their faith in instant flight,
Or broken squadrons, from th' affray,
Drag slow their wounded hulks away !
Behold his Chiefs, in daring setts,
D'Estaignes, De Grasses and Fayettes,
Spread through our camps their dread alarms,
And swell the fear of rebel arms!
Yet ere our glories sink in night,
A gleam of hope shall strike your sight;
As lamps, that fail of oil and fire,
Collect one glimm'ring to expire.
"For lo, where southern shores extend, Behold our gather'd hosts descend,
West-Indies, which was very successful in the conquest of St. Vincents and Grenada, the defeat of Admiral Biron in a naval engagement, and the capture of a British ship of the line and several frigates, on the Americancoast.
Where Charleston views, with varying beams
Her turrets gild th' encircling streams!
There by superior force compell'd,
Behold their gallant Lincoln* yield;
Nor aught the wreaths avail him now,
Pluck'd from Burgoyne's imperious brow.
See, furious from the vanquish'd strand,
Cornwallis leads his mighty band;
The southern realms and Georgian shore
Submit and own the victor's power;
Lo! sunk before his wasting way,
The Carolinas fall his prey!
See, shrinking from his conq'ring eye,
The Rebel legions fall or fly;
And with'ring in these torrid skies,
The northern laurel fades and dies !†
* General Lincoln was second in command in the army of General Gates, during the campaign of 1777, which ended in the capture of General Burgoyne. He afterwards commanded the army in South-Carolina, and was taken prisoner with the garrison of Charleston in 1780. London Edit.
This happened in consequence of the determination of Congress, that Charleston should at all events be defended.
+ This refers to the fortune of General Gates, who after having conquered Burgoyne in the North, was defeated by Cornwallis in the South. London Edit.
With rapid force he leads his train
To fair Virginia's cultured plain,
Triumphant eyes the travell'd zone,
And boasts the southern realm his own.
66 Nor yet this hero's glories bright
Blaze only in the fields of fight.
Not Howe's humanity more deserving
In gifts of hanging and of starving;
Not Arnold plunders more tobacco,
Or steals more negroes for Jamaica ;*
Scarce Rodney's self, among th' Eustatians,
Insults so well the laws of nations;
Ev'n Tryon's fame grows dim, and mourning
He yields the civic crown of burning.
see, with pleasure and surprize,
New triumph sparkling in your eyes;
*Arnold in the year 1781, having been converted to our cause, commanded a detachment of our army in Virginia; where he plundered many cargoes of negroes and tobacco, and sent them to Jamaica for his own account. How far Lord Rodney may have excelled him in this kind of heroic achievements, time perhaps will never discover.
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