Or when stern Austria stretched her lawless reign past, war. „Wo to th' usurper then, who dares defy The sturdy wrath of rustic loyalty. Wo to the hireling bands, foredoomed to feel How strong in labor's horny hand the steel. Behold e'en now, beneath yon Bætic skies Another Pavia bids her trophies rise. E'en now in base disguise and friendly night Their robber-monarch speeds his secret flight; And with new zeal the fiery Lusians rear, (Roused by their neighbor's worth,) the long neglected spear. So when stern winter chills the April showers, And iron frost forbids the timely flowers, 0, deem not thou the vigorous herb below Sweet as the martial trumpet's silver swell, Spain? Too long her sons, estranged from war and toil, Have loathed the safety of the sea-girt isle ; And chid the waves which pent their fire within, As the stalled war-horse woes the battle's din. 0, by this throbbing heart, this patriot glow, Which, well I feel, each English breast shall know, Say,shall my country, roused from deadly sleep, Crowd with her hardy sons yon western steep ; And shall once more the star of France grow pale, And dim its beams in Roncesvalles' vale ? Or shall foul sloth and timid doubt conspire To mar our zeal, and waste our manly fire ? Still as I gazed, his lowering features spread, High rose his forin,and darkness veiled his head. Fast from his eyes the ruddy lightning broke, To heaven he reared his arm, and thus he spoke: •Wo, trebly wo to their slow zeal who bore high, • O peerless island, generous, bold, and free, Lost, ruined Albion, Europe mourns for thee. Hadst thou but known the hour in mercy given To stay thy doom, and ward the ire of heaven; Bared in the cause of man thy warrior breast, And crushed on yonder hills the approaching pest, Then had not murder sacked thy smiling plain, And wealth and worth,and wisdom all been vain. • Yet, yet awake, while fear and wonder wait, On the poised balance, trembling still with fate. If aught their worth can plead, in battle tried, Who tinged with slaughter Tajo's curdling tide; (What time base truce the wheels of war could stay, And the weak victor flung his wreath away) Or theirs, who, doled in scanty bands afar, • Yes, through the march of many a weary day, • 0, if such hope can plead, or his, whose bier Drew from his conquering host their latest tear, Whose skill,whose matchless valor, gilded Night, Entornbed in foreign dust,a hasty soldier's rite ;0, 1ouse thee yet to conquer and to save, And Wisdom guide the sword which Justice gave. *And yet the end is not: from yonder towers, While one Saguntum nocks the victor's powers, Wbile one brave heart defies a servile chain, And one true soldier wields a lance for Spain; Trust not, vain tyrant, though thy spoiler band In tensold myriads darken half the land; (Vast as that power, against whose impious lord Bethulia's matron shook the nightly sword ;) care Defends the orphan's tear, the poor man's prayer; Who, Lord of nature, o'er this changeful ball Decrees the rise of empires, and the fall : Wondrous in all his ways, unseen, unknown, Who treads the wine-press of the world alone : And robed in darkness, and surrounding fears, Speeds on their destined road the march of years. No :-shall yon eagle, from the snare set free, Stoop to thy wrist, or cower his wing for thee? And shall it tame despair, thy strong control, Or quench a nation's still reviving soul?Go, bid the force of countless bands conspire To curb the wandering wind, or grasp the fire ; Cast thy vain fetters on the troublous sea ! But Spain, the brave, the virtuous, shall be free.' |