Now had the Grecians on the beach arriv'd,
To aid the helpless few who yet furviv'd!
While paffing they behold the waves o'erfpread
With fhatter'd rafts and corfes of the dead;
Three ftill alive, benumb'd and faint, they find,
In mournful filence on a rock reclin'd,
The generous natives, mov'd with focial pain,
The feeble strangers in their arms fustain;
With pitying fighs their hapless lot deplore,
And lead them, trembling, from the fatal shore,

THE fcene of death is clos'd, the mournful strains
Diffolve in dying languor on the ear;

Yet Pity weeps, yet Sympathy complains,

And dumb Sufpenfe awaits o'erwhelm'd with fear.

But the fad Mufes, with prophetick eye,
At once the future and the paft explore;
Their harps Oblivion's influence can defy,
And waft the spirit to th' eternal shore.

Then, O Palemon! if thy fhade can hear
The voice of Friendship ftill lament thy doom;
Yet to the fad oblations bend thine ear,
That rise in vocal incense o'er thy tomb.

In vain, alas! the gentle maid fhall weep,
While fecret anguish nips her vital bloom;
O'er her foft frame fhall ftern diseases creep,
And give the lovely victim to the tomb.

Relentless phrenzy fhall the father fting,
Untaught in Virtue's fchool diftrefs to bear;
Severe remorse his tortur'd foul fhall wring,
'Tis his to groan and perifh in despair.

Ye loft companions of diftrefs, adieu!

Your toils, and pains, and dangers, are no more! The tempeft now fhall howl, unheard by you,

While Ocean fmites in vain the trembling fhore.

On you the blast, furcharg'd with rain and fnow,
In winter's difmal nights no more shall beat:
Unfelt by you, the vertick fun may glow,

And scorch the panting earth with baneful heat.

No more the joyful maid, with sprightly ftrain, Shall wake the dance to give you welcome home; Nor hopeless Love impart undying pain,

When far from scenes of focial joy you roam.

No more on yon wide wat❜ry wafte you stray,
While hunger and disease your life confume;
While parching thirst, that burns without allay,
Forbids the blafted rose of health to bloom.

No more you feel Contagion's mortal breath
That taints the realms with mifery fevere:
No more behold pale Famine, fcattering death,
With cruel ravage defolate the year.

The thund'ring drum, the trumpet's fwelling ftrain,
Unheard, fhall form the long embattled line:
Unheard, the deep foundations of the main
Shall tremble when the hoftile fquadrons join.

Since grief, fatigue, and hazards, ftill molest
The wandering vaffals of the faithlefs deep,
Oh! happier now efcap'd to endless reft,

Than we who ftill furvive to wake and weep.

What tho' no funeral pomp, no borrow'd tear,
Your hour of death to gazing crowds shall tell;
Nor weeping friends attend your fable bier,
Who fadly listen to the paffing bell:

The tutor'd figh, the vain parade of woe,
No real anguish to the foul impart;

And oft, alas! the tear that friends beftow,
Belies the latent feelings of the heart!

What tho' no fculptur'd pile your name displays,
Like those who perish in their country's caufe;
What tho' no epick Muse in living lays

Records your dreadful daring with applause:

Full oft the flattering marble bids renown,
With blazon'd trophies deck the spotted name;
And oft, too oft! the venal Mufes crown
The flaves of vice with never-dying fame!

Yet shall Remembrance from Oblivion's veil
Relieve your scene, and figh with grief fincere;
And foft Compaffion, at your tragick tale,

In filent tribute pay her kindred tear.

ΟΝ

ON THE SEAT OF WAR IN FLANDERS.

WRITTEN IN MDCC X.

BY DR.

BROOM E.

Seceffus mei non defidiæ nomen, fed tranquillitatis accipiant. PLIN.*

HAPPY, thon Flandria! on whofe fertile plains

In wanton pride luxurious Plenty reigns!

Happy, had Heav'n beftow'd one bleffing more,
And plac'd thee diftant from the Gallick power!

But now in vain thy lawns attract the view,
They but invite the victor to fubdue:

War, horrid war! the fylvan fcene invades,

And angry trumpets pierce the woodland fhades.
Here fhatter'd towers, proud works of many an age,
Lie, dreadful monuments of human rage!
There palaces, and hallow'd domes, difplay
Majeftick ruins, awful in decay!

The very duft, tho' undiftinguifh'd trod,
Compos'd perhaps fome hero great and good,
Who nobly for his country loft his blood.
E'en with the grave the haughty spoilers war,
And Death's dark manfions wide difclofe to air;
O'er kings and faints infulting stalk, nor dread
To fpurn the ashes of the glorious dead.
See the Britannick Lions wave in air!

See mighty Marlb'rough breathing death and war!
From Albion's fhores, at Anna's high commands,ow
The dauntless hero pours his martial bands;

As when in wrath ftern Mars the Thund'rer fends
To fcourge his foes, in pomp the god defcends,

1

He

He mounts his iron car, with fury burns,
The car, fierce rattling, thunders as it turns;
Gloomy he grafps his adamantine fhield,
And scatters armies o'er th' enfanguin'd field:
With delegated wrath thus Marlb'rough glows,
In vengeance rufhing on his country's foes.
See round the hoftile tow'rs embattled ftands
His banner'd hoft, embody'd bands by bands!
Hark! the fhrill trumpet fends a mortal found,
And prancing horses shake the folid ground;
The furly drums beat terrible afar,

With all the dreadful mufick of the war;
From the drawn fwords effulgent flames arise,
Flash o'er the plains, and lighten to the skies;
The heavens above, the fields and floods beneath,
Glare formidably bright, and fhine with death;
In fiery ftorms defcends a murd'rous show'r,
Thick flash the lightnings, fierce the thunders roar.
As when in wrathful mood almighty Jove
Aims his dire bolts, red hiffing from above,
Thro' the fing'd air with unrefifted sway
The forky vengeance rends it's flaming way;
And while the firmament with thunder roars,
From their foundations hurls imperial towers:
So rush the globes with many a fiery round,
Tear up
the rock, or rend the ftedfaft mound;
Death shakes aloft her dart, and o'er her prey
Stalks with dire joy, and marks in blood her way;
Mountains of heroes flain deform the ground,
The shape of man half bury'd in the wound.
And, lo! while in the fhock of war they clofe,

While fwords meet fwords, and foes encounter foes,

The treach'rous earth beneath their footsteps cleaves,
Her entrails tremble, and her bosom heaves;

Sudden in bursts of fire eruptions rife,

And whirl the torn battalions to the fkies.

Thus