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'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

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'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.

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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,

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Through the hoary foam ascending,
'Here I feed my constant woe:
'Here the Bastimentos viewing,

'We recall our shameful doom,
And, our plaintive cries renewing,
'Wander through the midnight gloom.

'O'er these waves, for ever mourning,
'Shall we roam, depriv'd of rest,
'If, to Britain's shores returning,
"You neglect my just request:
'After this proud foe subduing,
'When your patriot friends you see,
'Think on vengeance for my ruin,
'And for England-sham'd in me.'

SONG LXIV.

CAPTAIN DEATH.*

THE muse and the hero together are fir'd,
The same noble views have their bosoms inspir'd;
As freedom they love, and for glory contend,
The muse o'er the hero still mourns as a friend :

And here let the muse her poor tribute bequeath
To one British hero,-'tis brave captain Death!

His ship was the Terrible,-dreadful to see!
His crew were as brave, and as gallant as he;

* Written, as it is said, by one of his surviving crew.

Two hundred, or more, was their good complement,
And sure braver fellows to sea never went :

Each man was determin'd to spend his last breath
In fighting for Britain, and brave captain Death.

A prize they had taken diminish'd their force,
And soon the good prize-ship was lost in her course :
The French privateer* and the Terrible met ;--
The battle begun,-all with horror beset :

No heart was dismay'd,-each as bold as Macbeth ;-
They fought for Old England, and brave captain Death.

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:-
The flood, from the days of old Noah and Seth,
Ne'er saw such a man as our brave captain Death.

At last the dread bullet came wing'd with his fate,
Our brave captain drop'd,—and soon after his mate ;-
Each officer fell, and a carnage was seen,
That soon died the waves to a crimson from green:
And Neptune rose up, and he took off his wreath,
And gave it a Triton-to crown captain Death.

Thus fell the strong Terrible, bravely and bold;
But sixteen survivors the tale can unfold;

* 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 :
And thus says old Time, 'from good queen Elizabeth,
I ne'er saw the fellow of brave captain Death.'

SONG LXV.

THE SEA-FIGHT IN MDCXCII.*

THURSDAY in the morn, the ides of May,
Recorded for ever the famous ninety-two,
Brave Russel did discern, by dawn of day,

The lofty sails of France advancing now:

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* 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 fly a culverin, the signal of the line

Let every hand supply his gun;

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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.
Now every valiant mind to victory doth aspire,
The bloody fight's begun, the sea itself on fire;
And mighty Fate stood looking on;
Whilst a flood,

All of blood,

Fill'd the scupper-holes of the Royal Sun.

Sulphur, smoke and fire, disturbing the air,
With thunder and wonder affright the Gallic shore;
Their regulated bands stood trembling near,

To see the lofty streamers now no more.
At six o'clock the Red the smiling victors led,
To give a second blow, the fatal overthrow;
Now Death and Horror equal reign;
Now they cry,

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.]

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