Now HAWKINS said, and seem'd all void of fear,
"Ye chiefs be men, the charge of battle bear;
Your brave associates and yourselves révere.
Let glorious acts more glorious acts inspire,
And catch from breast to breast the noble fire.
On valour's side the odds of combat lie,
The brave live glorious, or lamented die ;
The wretch who trembles in the field of fame,
Meets death, and worse than death, eternal shame."
Then to the beauteous LAMBERT thus he cry'd,
"Thus, always thus, thy early worth be try'd;
Thy brave example shall retrieve our host,
Our army's saviour, and thy father's boast
To this the youth, " With praise the rest inspire,
Nor urge a soul already fill'd with fire.”

Thus HAWKINS proudly boasts and vaunts aloud,
With words, not deeds, inflames the 'vengeful croud.
Thus they, while the fierce prince pursues the foe,
O'ertakes the wretch oppress'd with mighty woe,
And cries aloud, "Whoe'er thou art, remain,
This jav'lin else shall fix thee to the plain."
He said, and high in air the weapon cast,
Which whizzing err'd, and o'er his shoulders pass'd;
Then fix'd in earth, against the quivering wood,
The foe stood propp'd and trembling as he stood;
A sudden palsy seiz'd his turning head,

His loose teeth chatter'd and his colour fled.
The raging prince now ey'd the quiv'ring foe,
And horrible, high rising to the blow,
Cleft his proud head with a redoubled wound,
His battered brains rush'd smoaking to the ground;
An iron sleep came low'ring o'er his sight,

And wrapp'd the ruffian in a cloud of night.

G

73

Back thro' the cleaving ranks MONDINGO flies
That moment, swift as lightning thro' the skies,
His troops he rallies, and his foes confounds,
While some retreat, and others sink with wounds;
He calls his chiefs by name, exhorts the train,
And with his presence fires the host again :
And when the furious hero came in view,
That instant HAWKINS from the combat flew,
As when the force of men and dogs combin'd
Invade the mountain goat or branching hind,
Far from the hunter's rage, secure they lie,
Close in the rock, not fated yet to die;
When lo! a lion shoots across the way,
They fly at once, the chasers and the prey:
So boasting HAWKINS when the prince appears,
Forgets to boast, and testifies he fears;

He fled to his bright ships, swift as the wind,
Screen'd by his wooden wall, and left the war behind.
MONDINGO rush'd amidst the thickest war,

Harrangues his men, dispels their local fear:
"Chieftains, to war, ourself will lead you on,
Nor dread the vaunts of WILLMORE's haughty son;
Deeds must decide our fate; ev'n those with words
Insult the brave, yet tremble at their swords;
Our hypocritic foes all heav'n defy,

But shrink and shudder when the thunders fly;
Nor from yon boaster shall your chief retire,
Not though his heart was steel, his hands were fire;
That fire, that steel, MONDINGO would withstand,
And brave that 'vengeful heart, that dreadful hand :
This moment I to meet bold LAMBERT go,
Nor shall bold LAMBERT want an equal foe;
Fierce as he is, ev'n he may learn to fear
The thirsty fury of our flying spear."

Thus breathing rage the fierce мONDINGO said,
A grove of spears gleam'd dreadful round his head;
Clamors on clamors tempest all the air,

They throng, they whoop, they thicken to the war;
The fierce MONDINGO shouting to the skies,
On all the Christians' force with fury flies;
First falls proud PICKET at his squadron's head,
The chief was cruel and the men he led ;
The hero wields his sword, his head divides,
The visage parted, falls on equal sides;
He trampled out his soul, the body tore,
And stain'd the verdure with no vulgar gore.
High o'er the scene of death MONDINGO stood,
All grim with dust, and brains, and clotted blood;
He sees young LAMBERT with his flaming eyes,
And in an instant after LAMBERT flies;

LAMBERT beholds this terror of the plain,

Consents to fear and fly, nor heeds the voice of fame : But first he paus'd amidst his full career,

Then first brave LAMBERT's manly breast knew fear. So turns the lion from the nightly fold,

Tho' high in courage and with hunger bold,

Long gall'd by herdsmen, and long vex'd by hounds,
Stiff with fatigue, and fretted sore with wounds;
Tho' darts fly round him from an hundred hands,
And the red terrors of the blazing brands,
Till late reluctant at the dawn of day,

Sour he departs and quits th' untasted prey,
So mov'd fair LAMBERT from his dang'rous place,
With weary limbs, but with unwilling pace;
He looks around, and as he looks he stands,
And turning, thus address'd the Christian bands:
"No wonder men that we are forc'd to yield,
Thus vanquish'd, and thus forc'd to leave the field:

The Lord the mighty God averts our spears,
And in the Africans' behalf appears;

Let him by whose unhappy conduct led,

For whose curs'd cause so many chiefs have bled,
So many heroes of our land lay low,

Till all our army wears one face of woe;
Him who pretends to storm a host, but flies,
While the proud boasting coward braves the skies,
Let HAWKINS, for I must, I will pursue
The army's good, tho' death is in my view,
Go stand the test, if but one spark remains
Of courage in his soul, and warms his veins ;
Go meet the foe and answer his demand,
Go fight the valiant hero hand to hand;
If slaves he'll have then let him, let him go,
Meet in the listed field the gen'rous foe ;
The wrath of heav'n attends our enterprise
Our troops are vanquish'd and our army flies;
Trust not too much your unavailing might,
'Tis not with men, but with a God you fight;
Retire then soldiers, but sedate and slow,
Retire, but with your faces to the foe."
As the bold bird endow'd with sharpest eye,
Of all that wing the mid ærial sky,

The mighty eagle from his walks above,

Looks down and sees the distant thicket move,
Then stoops, and sousing on the quiv'ring hare,
Snatches his life amid the clouds of air;

Not with less quickness his exerted sight
Pass'd this and that way, thro' the ranks of fight;
When on his left his valiant sire he found,
Cheering his men, and spreading death around;
MONDINGO SAW, and furious at the sight,

Rush'd terrible amidst the thickest fight;

LAMBERT recedes, but with a tardy pace,

Tho' fierce MONDINGO thunders in his face;
As when with tilted spears the clam'rous train
Invade the brindled monarch of the plain,
The lordly savage from the shouting foe,
Retires majestically stern and slow;
Tho' singly impotent the crowd to dare,
Repel or stand their whole collected war,
Grim he looks back, he rolls his glaring eye,
Despairs to conquer, and disdains to fly.

7

So LAMBERT paus'd and by degrees retir❜d,
While shame, disdain and rage the hero fir❜d =
Yet twice ev'n then he flew amid the train,
And twice repuls'd the sable foe again.
By words and deeds he animates the crowd,
And shouting, thus harrangues his men aloud,
As if he were endow'd with brazen lungs,
His voice surpass'd the force of twenty tongues :
"Inglorious soldiers, to your race a shame,
And only men in figure and in name,
Fly ye at length from yon degenʼrate bands,
And must we fall by such inglorious hands?
Shall these, so late who trembled at your name,
Destroy your officers, your ships enflame?

A change so shameful, say, what cause has wrought,
The soldier's baseness, or the general's fault.
Fools! will ye perish for your leader's vice,
The purchase infamy, and life the price?
And for your chief will ye forego your fame,
Another's is the crime, but yours the shame;
Grant that our chief offend thro' fear or lust,
Must ye be cowards if your chief's unjust?
Prevent this evil and your vessels save,