'And obey'd my heart's warm motion To have quell'd the pride of Spain. For resistance I could fear none, 'But with twenty ships had done 'What thou, brave and happy Vernon, 'Hast atchiev'd with six alone. Then the Bastimentos never 'Had our foul dishonour seen, 'Nor the sea the sad receiver 'Of this gallant train had been. Thus, like thee, proud Spain dismaying, And her galleons leading home, "Though, condemn'd for disobeying, 'I had met a traitor's doom; To have fall'n, my country crying, 'He has play'd an English part, 'Had been better far than dying "Of a griev'd and broken heart. Thy successful arms we hail; 'But remember our sad story, ́ And let Hosier's wrongs prevail. 'Sent in this foul clime to languish, 'Think what thousands fell in vain, ⚫ Wasted with disease and anguish, 'Not in glorious battle slain. 'Hence with all my train attending From their oozy tombs below, с Through the hoary foam ascending, 'We recall our shameful doom, 'O'er these waves, for ever mourning, SONG LXIV. CAPTAIN DEATH.* THE muse and the hero together are fir'd, And here let the muse her poor tribute bequeath His ship was the Terrible,-dreadful to see! * Written, as it is said, by one of his surviving crew. Two hundred, or more, was their good complement, Each man was determin'd to spend his last breath A prize they had taken diminish'd their force, No heart was dismay'd,-each as bold as Macbeth ;- Fire, thunder, balls, bullets, were seen, heard, and felt; A sight that the heart of Bellona would melt ! The shrouds were all torn, and the decks fill'd with blood, And scores of dead bodies were thrown in the flood:- At last the dread bullet came wing'd with his fate, Thus fell the strong Terrible, bravely and bold; * Called 'the Vengeance.'-The strange circumstance mentioned by some writers of one of the Terrible's lieutenants being named Devil, the surgeon Ghost, and of her having been fitted out at Execution-dock, seems entirely void of foundation. The French were the victors,-though much to their cost, For many brave French were with Englishmen lost : SONG LXV. THE SEA-FIGHT IN MDCXCII.* THURSDAY in the morn, the ides of May, The lofty sails of France advancing now: * The great naval victory, intended to be celebrated by this excellent old song, was determined, after a running action of several days, off Cape La Hogue, on the coast of Normandy, the 22d of May, 1692, in favour of the English and Dutch combined fleets, consisting of 99 sail of the line, under the command of admiral Russel, afterwards earl of Orford, over a French squadron of about half that number, commanded by the chevalier Tourville, whose ship, Le Soleil The Root Royal, carried upwards of a hundred guns, and was esteemed the finest vessel in Europe. This last fleet was fitted out for the purpose of restoring King James the Second to his dominions; and that prince, together with the duke of Berwick, and several great officers, both of his own court and of the court of France, and even Tourville his self, beheld the final destruction of the French ships from an eminence on the shore. It is now certain, that Russel had engaged to favour the scheme of his old Master's restoration, on condition that the French took care to avoid him; but Tourville's impetuosity and rashness rendered the whole measure abortive: And the distressed and ill-fated monarch retired, in a fit of despondency, to mourn his misfortunes, and recover his peace of mind, amid the solitary gloom of La Trappe. See a very elegant and particular account of this famous sea-fight in Sir John Dalrymple's Memoirs, All hands aloft, aloft, let English valour shine, Let every hand supply his gun; To meet the gallant Russel in combat on the deep; He led the noble train of heroes bold, To sink the English admiral at his feet. All of blood, Fill'd the scupper-holes of the Royal Sun. Sulphur, smoke and fire, disturbing the air, To see the lofty streamers now no more. Run or die, British colours ride the vanquish'd main : vol. i. p. 503, and Mr. Macpherson's History, vol. ii. p. 11. [A successful parody on this naval song was adapted to the triumph obtained by admirals Rodney and Hood, over the French fleet under De Grasse, when he was taken in the Ville de Paris, on the 12th of April, 1782.] |