Thine only fon pierc'd with a deadly wound,

Chok'd in his blood, and gafping on the ground,
Thyfelf in bondage by the victor kept!

The chief, the father, and the captive, wept.
An English Muse is touch'd with generous woe,
And in th' unhappy man forgets the foe!
Greatly distrest! they loud complaints forbear,
Blame not the turns of fate, and chance of war;
Give thy brave foes their due, nor blush to own
The fatal field by fuch great leaders won,
The field whence fam'd Eugenio bore away
Only the second honours of the day.

With floods of gore that from the vanquish'd fell
The marshes ftagnate, and the rivers fwell.
Mountains of flain lie heap'd upon the ground,
Or 'midst the roarings of the Danube drown'd;
Whole captive hosts the conqueror detains
In painful bondage, and inglorious chains;
Ev'n those who 'fcape the fetters and the sword,
Nor seek the fortunes of a happier lord,
Their raging King difhonours, to compleat
Marlborough's great work, and finish the defeat.

From Memminghen's high domes, and Augsburg's
walls,

The diftant battle drives th' infulting Gauls;
Freed by the terror of the victor's name
The rescued States his great protection claim;
Whilft Ulme th' approach of her deliverer waits,
And longs to open her obfequious gates.

The hero's breaft ftill fwells with great defigns,
In every thought the towering genius fhines:

If

If to the foe his dreadful course he bends,
O'er the wide continent his march extends;
If fieges in his labouring thoughts are form'd,
Camps are affaulted, and an army storm'd;
If to the fight his active foul is bent,
The fate of Europe turns on its event.
What distant land, what 1egion, can afford
An action worthy his victorious sword?
Where will he next the flying Gaul defeat,
To make the series of his toils compleat?

Where the swoln Rhine rushing with all its force
Divides the hostile nations in its course,
While each contracts its bounds, or wider grows,
Enlarg'd or ftraiten'd as the river flows,

On Gallia's fide a mighty bulwark stands,
That all the wide-extended plain commands;
Twice, fince the war was kindled, has it try'd
The victor's rage, and twice has chang'd its fide;
As oft whole armies, with the prize o'erjoy'd,
Have the long fummer on its walls employ'd.
Hither our mighty chief his arms directs,
Hence future triumphs from the war expects;
And though the dog-star had its course begun,
Carries his arms ftill nearer to the fun :
Fixt on the glorious action, he forgets

The change of feasons, and increase of heats;
No toils are painful that can danger show,
No climes unlovely, that contain a foe.

The roving Gaul, to his own bounds restrain'd,
Learns to incamp within his native land,

But

But foon as the victorious host he spies,

From hill to hill, from ftream to stream he flies:
Such dire impreffions in his heart remain

Of Marlborough's fword, and Hochftet's fatal plain :
In vain Britannia's mighty chief besets
Their fhady coverts, and obfcure retreats;
They fly the conqueror's approaching fame,
That bears the force of armies in his name.
Auftria's young monarch, whose imperial sway
Sceptres and thrones are deftin'd to obey,
Whose boasted ancestry so high extends
That in the pagan gods his lineage ends,
Comes from afar, in gratitude to own
The great fupporter of his father's throne:
What tides of glory to his bofom ran,
Clasp'd in th' embraces of the godlike man!
How were his eyes with pleasing wonder fixt
To fee fuch fire with fo much sweetness mixt,
Such eafy greatness, fuch a graceful port,
So turn'd and finish'd for the camp or court!

Achilles thus was form'd with every grace,
And Nireus fhone but in the second place;
Thus the great father of almighty Rome
(Divinely flusht with an immortal bloom
That Cytherea's fragrant breath bestow'd)
In all the charms of his bright mother glow'd.
The royal youth by Marlborough's prefence charm'd,
Taught by his counfels, by his actions warm'd,
On Landau with redoubled fury falls,

Discharges all his thunder on its walls,
F

O'er mines and caves of death provokes the fight, And learns to conquer in the hero's fight.

The British chief, for mighty toils renown'd,
Increas'd in titles, and with conquefts crown'd,
To Belgian coafts his tedious march renews,
And the long windings of the Rhine pursues,
Clearing its borders from ufurping foes,
And bleft by rescued nations as he goes.
Treves fears no more, freed from its dire alarms;
And Traerbach feels the terror of his arms :
Seated on rocks her proud foundations shake,
While Marlborough preffes to the bold attack.
Plants all his batteries, bids his cannon roar,
And shows how Landau might have fall'n before.
Scar'd at his near approach, grea Louis fears
Vengeance referv'd for his declining years,
Forgets his thirft of universal sway,

And scarce can teach his fubjects to obey;
His arms he finds on vain attempts employ'd,
Th' ambitious projects for his race destroy'd,
The works of ages funk in one campaign,
And lives of millions facrific'd in vain.

Such are th' effects of Anna's royal cares:
By her, Britannia, great in foreign wars,
Ranges through nations, wherefoe'er disjoin'd,
Without the wonted aid of fea and wind.
By her th' unfetter'd Ifter's ftates are free,
And taste the fweets of English liberty:
But who can tell the joys of thofe that lie
Beneath the constant influence of her eye!

Whilft in diffufive fhowers her bounties fall
Like heaven's indulgence, and descend on all,
Secure the happy, fuccour the distrest,

Make every fubject glad, and a whole people bleft.
Thus would I fain Britannia's wars rehearse,

In the fmooth records of a faithful verse;
That, if fuch numbers can o'er time prevail,
May tell pofterity the wondrous tale.
When actions, unadorn'd, are faint and weak,
Cities and countries must be taught to speak;
Gods may defcend in factions from the skies,
And rivers from their oozy beds arise;
Fiction may deck the truth with fpurious rays,
And round the hero caft a borrow'd blaze.
Marlborough's exploits appear divinely bright,
And proudly shine in their own native light;
Rais'd of themselves, their genuine charms they boast,
And those who paint them trueft praise them moft.