Written between Fourteen and Fifteen.
CANTO I.
“It timor, et major Martis jam apparet imago.”
Virgil.
TO
THOSE ILLUSTRIOUS HEROES,
WHOSE LAURELS ARE THE BRIGHTEST ORNAMENTS
OF THE
BRIGHTEST VICTORY
WHICH HAS EVER GRACED THE ANNALS
OF THE
BRITISH HISTORY;
WHOSE NAMES THE BARD GLORIES TO CELEBRATE,
AND FAME DELIGHTS TO IMMORTALIZE;
THIS POEM
IS DEDICATED,
BY THEIR YOUTHFUL, BUT ARDENT ADMIRER,
THE
BATTLE OF WATERLOO.
CANTO I.
I.
Awake, my Muse, and o’er my trembling lyre
Breath but one spark of that celestial fire,
But one bright beam, unconscious of decay,
Which shew’d thy bard Parnassus’ flow’ry way;
Immortal Homer! for a bolder theme,
Than ever yet has rous’d my youthful dream,
The deeds of warriors, the delights of war,
And all the glories of the trophied car,
Begin Calliope!—to these belong
A more than common, more than mortal song!10