STANZAS ON THE BATTLE OF NAVARINO. HEARTS of oak that have bravely deliver'd the brave, wave The light of your glory shall shine. For the guerdon ye sought with your bloodshed and toil, Was it slaves, or dominion, or rapine, or spoil? No! your lofty emprize was to fetter and foil The uprooter of Greece's domain! When he tore the last remnant of food from her soil, Till her famish'd sank pale as the slain ! Yet, Navarin's heroes! does Christendom breed The base hearts that will question the fame of deed? your Are they men ?—let ineffable scorn be their meed, And oblivion shadow their graves! Are they women?—to Turkish serails let them speed! And be mothers of Mussulman slaves. Abettors of massacre ! dare ye deplore That the death-shriek is silenced on Hellas's shore? That the mother aghast sees her offspring no more By the hand of Infanticide grasp'd? And that stretch'd on yon billows distain'd by their gore Missolonghi's assassins have gasp'd? Prouder scene never hallow'd war's pomp to the mind, Than when Christendom's pennons woo'd social the wind, And the flower of her brave for the combat combined, Their watch-word, humanity's vow ; Not a sea-boy that fought in that cause, but man kind Owes a garland to honour his brow! Nor grudge, by our side, that to conquer or fall, Came the hardy rude Russ, and the high-mettled Gaul; For whose was the genius, that plann'd at its call, All were brave! but the star of success over all That star of thy day-spring, regenerate Greek! Dimm'd the Saracen's moon, and struck pallid his cheek: In its fast flushing morning thy Muses shall speak When their lore and their lutes they reclaim : And the first of their songs from Parnassus's peak Shall be "Glory to Codrington's name !" LINES ON LEAVING A SCENE IN BAVARIA. ADIEU the woods and waters' side, Adieu the grotto, wild and wide, Hath swell'd each torrent of the hill; Her clouds collect, her shadows sail, And watery winds that sweep the vale, Grow loud and louder still. |