Born with a mind untaught to shrink or yield,
In council deep, unfathom'd in the field,
In charge resistless, dangerous in defeat,
In victory clement, dreadful in retreat!
Cradled mid arms, a soldier from his birth,
He stood the awe and glory of the earth!
But, not alone in scenes where glory fir'd, He mov'd no less in civil walks admir'd! Though long a warrior, choice of human blood, As Brutus noble, and as Titus good! To all that form'd the hero of the age, He join'd the patriot and the peaceful sage, The statesman powerful, and the ruler just, No less illustrious than the chief august; And, to condense his characters in one, The godlike father of his country shone!
Such was the man! let distant ages know,
For whom Columbia droops in weeds of woe!
Peerless in life!Ye wondering realms attend!
His fame was brighten'd by his glorious end!
By pain unmov'd, magnanimous in death,
He prov'd the hero with his latest breath!
And shot eternal splendours through the gloom,
That shrouds, in night, the confines of the tomb!
His worth, increasing with his reverend days,
Had taught a nation virtue's radiant ways,
Then, greatly yielding life, without a sigh,
His last example taught them how to die!
Shade of immortal Warren hither bend! Montgomery, Mercer, Lawrence, Green, attend! Mid files of angels, rang'd on either side, And forms angelic your celestial guide, Conduct, in triumph, to the climes above, The illustrious spirit of the chief you love!
Ye hostile chiefs on Europe's harrass'd shore,
Who fiercely fan, with banners dipt in gore,
The dreadful flame of war! revert your eyes,
Behold the death, Columbia's hero dies!
In life how mild, how firm, how just, how brave!
And lo! what glories issue from his grave!
What weeping millions o'er his ashes bend!
What bursts of woe his country's bosom rend!
What prayers, what eulogies ascend the sky,
What deathless monuments in embryo lye!
Ye emperors, kings, and civil powers august ! Whose bleeding armies agonize in dust, Whose rifled subjects raise a general groan, And cheerless realms mid deep oppression moan! Whose breasts a thirst for martial fame inspires; Whom love of wealth, of power, or conquest fires, Ambition drags, in triumph, at her car,
While spurious glory dazzles from afar !
To your throng'd courts, my feeble voice I raise,
To you address expostulary lays!
Scan well our hero's life, his death admire,
And burn your bosoms with a kindred fire!
When dark oppression's clouds impend your land,
Like him, the avenging thunders in your hand,
Rush foremost, mid the fierce embattled hosts,
And hurl the bold invader from your coasts!
But when, the victory won, the conflict o'er,
Mild mercy's accents whisper round your shore,
Like him command the storm of war to cease,
The love inspire and rear the arts of peace!
Pluck from your brows the laurel wreaths entwin'd,
With radiant hand the blooming olive bind,
And let your swords, the glory of the brave,
To ploughshares turn, and golden harvests wave!
Like him, the fathers of your people prove,
Like him, expire amid your people's love!
Come sages! come, and with the sorrowing tear, Bedew the pall that shrouds your idol's bier, Ye statesmen, chiefs, and faithful patriots rise, And sieze his mantle ere he reach the skies, Ye virgins fair, and modest matrons come, And strew, with flowrets fresh, your guardian's tomb, With pearly sorrows bathe the hallowed ground, And breathe the soul of plaintive music round!
Ye war-worn veterans, faithful to your chief, Torn by remorseless pangs of manly grief, Who, oft, the fierce conflicting ranks among, Where carnage, leagu'd with terror swept along, Crush'd the bold warrior, rent his bosom's core, And lapt, with demon thirst, the streaming gore, Where host with host, and man with man engag'd, And all the tumult of the battle rag'd, Have heard, with joy, his all-commanding word, And seen the beamy terrors of his sword, Have seen pale squadrons rally at his call, And hostile legions struck with deep appal, With slow and reverend step approach the grave, That holds, enshrin'd, the relicts of the brave! On bended knee, salute the sacred ground, And let your warlike honors burst around! Then, germs of olive, oak, and laurel bring, And let them, mingling, o'er your hero spring!
Strike, nature! strike, with force, thy mighty bell, And sound through all thy realms his funeral knell!
Here let a statesman, there a reverend sage,
To mark and emulate his steps engage,
Columbia, widow'd count his virtues o'er,
Around his tomb her pearly sorrows pour,
And mild religion, of celestial mien,
Point to her patron's place, in realms unseen!
Then stamp in gold, the monument above,
THE MOURNFUL TRIBUTE OF A NATION'S LOVE!
Extract from a poem, sacred to the memory of general GEORGE
WASHINGTON. By RICHARD ALSOP.
rafted to the 22 Feb 1500
XALTED chief-in thy superior mind
E What vast resourse, what various talents join'd!
Temper'd with social virtue's milder rays,
There patriot worth diffus'd a purer blaze :
Form'd to command respect, esteem inspire,
Midst statesmen grave, or midst the social choir,
With equal skill the sword or pen to wield,
In council great, unequall'd in the field,
Mid glittering courts or rural walks to please,
Polite with grandeur, dignified with ease;
Before the splendors of thy high renown
How fade the glow-worm lustres of a crown;
How sink diminish'd in that radiance lost
The glare of conquest, and of power the boast.
Let Greece her Alexander's deeds proclaim,
Or Cæsar's triumphs gild the Roman name,
Stripp'd of the dazzling glare around them cast,
Shrinks at their crimes humanity aghast;
With equal claim to honor's glorious meed
See Attila his course of havoc lead!
O'er Asia's realms, in one vast ruin hurl❜d,
See furious Zingis' bloody flag unfurl'd.
On base far-different from the conqueror's claim
Rests the unsullied column of thy fame ;
His on the woes of millions proudly bas'd,
With blood cemented and with tears defac'd;
Thine on a nation's welfare fix'd sublime,
By freedom strengthen'd and rever'd by time.
He, as the comet, whose portentous light
Spreads baleful splendor o'er the glooms of night,
With chill amazement fills the startled breast,
While storms and earthquakes dire its course attest,
And nature trembles, lest, in chaos hurl'd,
Should sink the tott'ring fabric of the world.
Thou, like the sun, whose kind propitious ray
Opes the glad morn and lights the fields of day,
Pounteding Hudson +Goodwom
Dispels the wintry storm, the chilling rain,
With rich abundance clothes the smiling plain,
Gives all creation to rejoice around,
And life and light extends o'er nature's utmost bound.
Though shone thy life a model bright of praise,
Not less the example bright thy death pourtrays.
When, plung'd in deepest woe, around thy bed,
Each eye was fix'd, despairing sunk each head,
While nature struggled with severest pain,
And scarce could life's last lingering powers retain :
In that dread moment, awfully serene,
No trace of suffering mark'd thy placid mien,
No groan, no murmuring plaint escap'd thy tongue,
No low'ring shadows on thy brow were hung;
But calm in christian hope, undamp'd with fear,
Thou saw'st the high reward of virtue near,
On that bright meed in surest trust repos'd
As thy firm hand thine eyes expiring clos'd
Pleas'd, to the will of heaven resign'd thy breath,
And smil'd as nature's struggles clos'd in death.
Ill-fated country-lo, of aid bereft,
Thy spear is broken and thy buckler cleft!
What arm shall now a firm support bestow,
And shield thee harmless from the threat'ning foe
Who, mid the storm, with fearless hand shall guide
Thy course in safety o'er the troubled tide?
See faction lift on high his hateful head,
O'er his dark brow unwonted smiles are spread,
His lurid eye malignant triumph glares,
And joy infernal every feature wears!
For now no more that piercing eye he fears,
No more that voice, with terror thrill'd, he hears;
That eye, fon whose bright beam he shrunk dismay'd,
And veil'd his treasons in the midnight shade;
That fateful voice which levell'd in the dust
His plots nefarious, and his high-rais'd trust;
For, lo, in slumbers of the grave repos'd,
Hush'd is that voice, that eye in darkness clos'd!
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