1410

Bearing in silence, o'er the seamy floor,
Gifts for the ocean god, a countless store.
These in fair order rang'd at Neptune's feet,
The captain rose the monarch to entreat:
O thou, fam'd king, whose trident-bearing hand
O'er the vast deep is lifted to command,
For thee these offerings, a costly hoard,
By our great President were sent on board,
Who, 'midst the anxious cares of public weal,
For thy great interest ne'er remits his zeal.
At thy feet only tributes does he lay―
Refus'd the Gaul*—the Pacha, and the Bey+;
Thee we revere, from where Penobscot laves 1420
His yellow sands, to Darien's distant waves.

1415

* During the profligate reign of the French Directory, a demand was made by them, through the medium of their Embassador at Washington, on the treasury of the United States. The answer returned to the exaction was worthy of the old Romans in the time of Camillus: "We will expend millions in defence, but not an obolum in tribute."

+ The Government of the United States replied to the demand of the Barbary States for tribute, with the thunder of their gallant navy; and Preble bombarded Tripoli and Algiers in succession.

The representations of some of the British Journalists might authorize the belief that the American Congress is an assembly of blockheads; for we are told by them that they debated three successive days in the Capitol, whether they were not the greatest, the wisest, and the most enlightened of mankind. It were well for England, if her presiding writers would invest the trans-atlantic Statesmen with

XXIV.

Neptune the offerings view'd with glad surprize,
And on the heap incumbent fix'd his eyes:

A bow that scarce Ulysses' skill could bend,
Form'd a full league the feather'd fate to send. 1425
An Indian quiver, where now guiltless slept
Those winged darts that many a matron wept.
Resplendent mocassins without a flaw,

Such as fair Venus on her foot might draw-
Such as the urchin god might stoop to clasp,
With instep that exceeded not his grasp.
Then Neptune thus: these sandals will beguile
My spouse's eye, and light her sweetest smile,

1430

other attributes than those of weakness and imbecility; for I suspect there are some inveterate old Catos among them, who begin and conclude their speeches with "Delenda est Carthago !" That they are not fools in what relates to the organization of their Navy, take an instance in point. At its first establishment, the debates for full three days related (horresco referens) to the defects of the British naval system of equipment. It was stated by a Member, that when Lord Nelson was off Cadiz with seventeen sail of the line, he had no less than seven classes of seventy-four gun ships, each requiring masts, sails, and yards, of different dimensions; so that if one ship became disabled, the others could not obviate the disaster. It was, therefore, determined by these "silly Statesmen" to build on another principle; and hence the American frigates, and seventy-fours, are counterparts of each other, or sister-ships:

Facies non omnibus una

Nec diversa tamen, qualem decet esse sororum.

1435

And much the Nereids, with their floating hair,
Will sue-beseech--to gain an envied pair;
They, whose soft look-whose least word can assuage
The surging seas, and calm their bellowing rage.
Proto, who o'er the wave unbath'd can fly,
Swift as the light that paints the streaky sky;
An ocean elf, who when the storm annoys
The reeling vessel, shouts with truant noise.
Phao, whose sapphire buskins, lac'd with light,
Pours mild effulgence on the dolphin's sight.
Thalia, laughing now in vernal hues,

1440

And weeping now in tears of balmy dews.

1445

That wanton wee thing, kind Eulimine,

Pronæa sage, and proud Dinamene.

Soft Spio, with her eye of ocean-blue,

And skin that mocks the down of the sea-mew;
And Galatea, on her neck so fair

1450

Waving her luscious locks of orient hair.

How will the long-tress'd sisters of the deep

Pout and contend, and importune and weep,
These to put on, when the tempestuous seas
They gladsome leave, and tread the Cyclades; 1455
What time by moon-light, on the ebbing sand
The mazy dance they weave, link'd hand in hand.

G

XXV.

A scarlet robe the sceptred-king now eyed,
Bedropt with gold, in brightest tincture dyed,
And clapping with his hands, his own he drew 1460
In scorn aside, torn and uncouth to view,

And with it on the roomy deck he laid
His mortal mace of knotty olive made.

Then rising with an air, the gift he cast

O'er his huge form, and stalk'd from mast to mast
With ample strides-oft turning to behold
His train in rich array of glittering gold.

XXVI.

His seat resum❜d, his face a glow express'd,
And in his own the captain's hand he press'd,
Then by the gifts to generous ardour mov'd,
Thus spoke indulgent to his best belov'd:
If I have utter'd words to thee unkind,
Be they forgotten given to the wind;

1470

Far be the thought to wound a soul like thine— Henceforth thy navy's honour shall be mine; 1475 Wide as my sceptre waves, thy ships shall ride With flag triumphant o'er the azure tide.

The chief, perceiving that he bit the bait,
Press'd on the line with covert joy elate:
Greatest of guests! O thou, whose sceptred-hand
O'er the great deep is lifted to command,
This daring banner to thy sight unroll'd,
Streaming with stars and stripes of living gold,
To thy protection humbly we commend,
To all but thee refusing e'er to bend.

1485

For, lov'd by thee, its dreaded stripes shall sweep
Europe's proud navies from our home, the deep;
Wave, proudly wave, from Zembla to the line,
Dominion's symbol, and bright glory's sign;
Ere many years restrain the world in awe,
And to the land and ocean give the law.

1490

The Sire's cheek warm'd-a blush not over-nice-
Not only nien-but gods too have their price-
The flag he took, and clasp'd it to his breast,
And swore its honours ne'er should be deprest. 1495
And midst the loud rejoicings of the crew,
Thrice bade the Tritons rear it to the view,
High o'er his car-and, as his grooms obey,
And the proud banner blazes to the day,
Then our long battle-tier the gunners ply,
And the wide ocean thunders to the sky.

1.500

On board the United States ships the guns are named by the seamen, and the soubriquet of each gun, engraved on a small square of copper-plate, is placed over it. As these names refer to a charac