Then the stern genius of my native land,
With delegated vengeance in his hand,

Shall raging cross the troubled seas, and pour
The plagues of Hell on yon devoted shore.
What tides of ruin mark his ruthless way!
How shriek the fiends exulting o'er their prey!
I see their warriors gasping on the ground,
I hear their flaming cities crash around.—
In vain with trembling heart the coward turns,
In vain with gen'rous rage the valiant burns.—
One common ruin, one promiscuous grave,
O'erwhelms the dastard, and receives the brave-
For Afric triumphs !-his avenging rage
No tears can soften, and no blood assuage.
He smites the trembling waves, and at the shock
Their fleets are dash'd upon the pointed rock.
He waves his flaming dart, and o'er their plains,
In mournful silence, desolation reigns—
Fly swift ye years !—Arise thou glorious morn!
Thou great avenger of thy race be born!
The conqu'ror's palm and deathless fame be thine!
One gen'rous stroke, and liberty be mine!
-And now, ye pow'rs! to whom the brave are dear,
Receive me falling, and your suppliant hear.

To you this unpolluted blood I pour,

Το

you

that spirit which ye gave restore!

I ask no lazy pleasures to possess,

No long eternity of happiness ;

But if unstain'd by voluntary guilt,

At your great call this being I have spilt,

For all the wrongs which innocent I share,
For all I've suffer'd, and for all I dare;

O lead me to that spot, that sacred shore,
Where souls are free, and men oppress no more!

END OF

EPISTLES HEROIC AND AMATORY.

NOTES

ON

EPISTLES

HEROIC AND AMATORY.

EPISTLE I.

Page 1. THE Author of this Epistle was of Sidney College, Cambridge; and died at an early period, after having given various proofs of uncommon talents.

In 1728 was published a posthumous volume of his

Poems.

EPISTLE III.

Page 16. The Duke of Suffolk, being at the instance of the Commons banished the realm, embarked for France, but was taken in his passage by a pirate, who, bringing him back to the English coast, beheaded him. Before his death, he is supposed to write the following lines to his paramour Queen Margaret. The incidents are chiefly taken from the first and second parts of Shakspere's historical plays of Henry the VIth.

21. Here must I fall, fast by the rolling main

(Nor was the mutter'd spell pronounc'd in vain,]

Bol. Tell me what fates await the Duke of Suffolk?
Sp. By water shall he die, &c.

See Shakspere, 2d Part of Henry VI. A. 1. S. 3.
22. Of lordships wide and princely treasures vain,

The Benedictine rears his stately fane:] Marmoutier, a noble convent of Benedictines of the regulation of St. Maur. This magnificent structure stands about half a league from Tours, on the banks of the river Loire, by the side of the cliff which skirts the river almost from Blois to Tours, and its lofty spire rises above the height of the rock. Amongst numerous treasures, it boasts the relics of St. Martin the patron Saint of Tours, and a ring of our Henry the Second, to whom Touraine, and most of the adjoining provinces which are watered by the Loire, belonged. The abbacy of this convent is annexed to the Archbishopric of Tours; the declivities of the rock, adjoining to this fabric, are famous for producing many excellent wines, the chief of which are exported at Bourdeaux. J.

24. But now, alas! far other thoughts arise,

Far other scenes distract my closing eyes!

For, ah!

-] An excellent letter of this unfortunate nobleman to his son, just before his own death, and many other interesting anecdotes respecting him, are preserved in the very curious collection of the Paston Letters, lately published by Sir John Fenn.-One, which relates the particulars of his murder, is here subjoined: