XIV.

Hark, from th' embattled South what new alarms !*
What streaming ensigns paint the troubled air!
On Monmouth plains the boasting Clinton arms,
And leads to fate the whole collected war.
Hast thou forgot how once thy warriors fled,
Thine early shame on Charleston's fatal wave,†
When terror bade thy shatter'd ships recede,

And call the winds to waft thee from the grave? Beat not thy pulses with accustom'd fear, [there. And dread'st thou not thy foe? for Washington is

XV.

The deep artillery, with tremendous roar,

The sky's blue vault in deathful prelude rend. What clouds of smoke involve the darken'd shore ! Through the stunn'd air what flaky flames ascend! Conflicting thousands shake the shuddering ground, Keen vollies echoing rock the mountains wide, Afar the startled Del'ware hears the sound, And Hudson trembles with recoiling tide.

* Battle of Monmouth.

Defeat of the British under General Clinton, and repulse of their fleet under Admiral Parker, in their attempt on Charleston in South Carolina, in 1776.

Scarce the dire shock my fainting van sustain,

And Lee* appall'd retires, and yields the dubious

plain.

XVI.

When lo, my favor'd Chief appears to save
From fell destruction's all-devouring sweep;
As the sun rising o'er the turbid wave,

When night with storms hath vex'd the angry deep. Th' astonish'd foes maintain the fight no more, Fierce on their rear my rushing host impends, Their falling legions dye the fields with gore,

Till dusky eve, their better hope, descends; Through fav'ring darkness fly the broken train, Steal trembling to their ships, and hide behind the

main.

* General Charles Lee, a British adventurer, who had joined the Americans, and commanded the front division in this action. For his conduct on that occasion, he was suspended for a year from command, and never afterward employed in the service.

LINES

ADDRESSED TO MESSRS. DWIGHT AND BARLOW.

LINES

ADDRESSED TO

MESSRS. DWIGHT AND BARLOW,

On the projected publication of their Poems in London.*
December 1775.

PLEASED with the vision of a deathless name, You seek perhaps a flowery road to fame;

Where distant far from ocean's stormy roar,

Wind the pure vales and smiles the tranquil shore,
Where hills sublime in vernal sweetness rise,
And opening prospects charm the wand'ring eyes,
While the gay dawn, propitious on your way,
Crimsons the east and lights the orient day.

Yet vain the hope, that waits the promised bays,
Though conscious merit claim the debt of praise;
Still sneering Folly wars with every art,
Still ambush'd Envy aims the secret dart,

* Dwight's Conquest of Canaan, and Barlow's Vision of Columbus, afterwards enlarged and entitled, The Columbiad. This designed publication was prevented by the revolutionary war.