LIV.

Our fleet divides, and straight the Dutch appear,
In number, and a fam'd commander, bold;
The narrow seas can scarce their navy bear,
Or crowded vessels can their soldiers hold.
LV.

The Duke, less num'rous, but in courage more, !
On wings of all the winds to combat flies:
His murd'ring guns a loud defiance roar,
And bloody crosses on his flag-staffs rise.
LVI.

Both furl their sails, and strip them for the fight;
Their folded sheets dismiss the useless air:
Th' Elean plains could boast no nobler sight,
When struggling champions did their bodies bare.
LVII.

Born each by other in a distant line,

The sea-built forts in dreadful order move:

So vast the noise, as if not fleets did join,

But lands unfix'd *, and floating nations strove.
LVIII.

Now pass'd, on either side they nimbly tack;

Both strive to intercept and guide the wind:
And in its eye more closely they come back,
To finish all the deaths they left behind.

Lands unfix'd.] From Virgil. "Credas innare revulsas Cycladas," &c.

LIX.

On high-rais'd decks the haughty Belgians ride,
Beneath whose shade our humble frigates go:
Such port the el'phant bears, and so defy’d
By the rhinoc'ros, her unequal foe.

LX.

And as the built, so diff'rent is the fight;
Their mounting shot is on our sails design'd:
Deep in their hulls our deadly bullets light,
And through the yielding planks a passage find.
LXI.

Our dreaded Admiral from far they threat,

Whose batter'd rigging their whole war receives: All bare, like some old oak which tempests beat, He stands, and sees below his scatter'd leaves.

LXII.

Heroes of old, when wounded, shelter sought;
But he, who meets all danger with disdain,
E'en in their face his ship to anchor brought,
And, steeple-high, stood prop'd upon the main.
LXIII.

At this excess of courage, all amaz’d,

The foremost of his foes a while withdraw, With such respect in enter'd Rome they gaz'd, Who on high chairs the god-like fathers saw. LXIV.

And now, as where Patroclus' body lay,

Here Trojan chiefs advanc'd, and there the Greeks;

1

Ours o'er the Duke their pious wings display,
And theirs the noblest spoils of Britain seek.
716241 LXV.!

Mean time his busy mariners he hastes,
His shatter'd sails with rigging to restore;
And willing pines ascend his broken masts,
Whose lofty heads rise higher than before.
LXVI.

Straight to the Dutch he turns his dreadful prow,
More fierce the important quarrel to decide:

Like swans in long array, his vessels show,
Whose crests advancing, do the waves divide.

They charge, re-charge, and all along the sea

They drive, and squander the huge Belgian fleet :

Berkley alone, who nearest danger lay,

Did a like fate with lost Creusa meet.

The night comes on, we eager to pursue
The combat still, and they asham'd to leave ;
Till the last streaks of dying day withdrew,
And doubtful moonlight did our rage deceive,
LXIX.

In th' English fleet each ship resounds with joy,
And loud applause of their great leader's fame :
'n fiery dreams the Dutch they still destroy,
And, slumb'ring, smile at the imagin'd flame.

Volume I.

H

Not so the Holland fleet, who, tir'd and done,
Stretch'd on their decks like weary oxen lie:
Faint sweats all down their mighty members run,
(Vast bulks, which little souls but ill supply.)

LXXI.

In dreams they fearful precipices tread, o
Or, shipwreck'd, labour to some distant shore :
Or in dark churches walk among the dead;
They wake with horror, and dare sleep no more.
mada al LXXII. el te

The morn they look on with unwilling eyes,
Till from their main-top, joyful news they hear
Of ships, which by their mould bring new supplies,
And in their colours Belgian lions bear.

LXXIII.

Our watchful Gen'ral had discern'd from far,

This mighty succour which made glad the foe:

He sigh'd, but, like a father of the war,

His face spake hope*, while deep his sorrows flow. LXXIV.

2

His wounded men he first sends off to shore,

Never, till now, unwilling to obey :

They not their wounds, but want of strength deplore, And think them happy who with him can stay.

* His face, &c.]" spem vultu simulat, premit alto corde dolorem." Virg.

LXXV.

Then, to the rest,"Rejoice," said he," to day;
In you the fortune of Great Britain lies:
Among so brave a people you are they

Whom Heav'n, has chose to fight for such a prize. LXXVI.

If number English.courages could quell,

We should at first have shun'd, not met, our foes; Whose num'rous sails the fearful only tell:

Courage from hearts, and not from numbers grows."
LXXVII.

He said; nor needed more to say: with haste
To their known stations cheerfully they go;

And all at once disdaining to be last,
Solicit every gale to meet the foe.
LXXVIII.

Nor did th' encourag'd Belgians long delay,

But, bold in others, not themselves, they stood; So thick, our navy scarce could steer their way, But seem'd to wander in a moving wood. LXXIX.

Our little fleet was now engag'd so far,

That, like the sword-fish in the whale,they fought ;
The combat only seem'd a civil war,

Till thro' their bowels we our passage wrought.
LXXX.

Never had valour, no not ours, before

Done aught like this upon the land or main.