The same worthy motives that induced the author to send us the following poem, will induce us to give it place this month, altho we are already crowded with materials. We think it our duty, as Britons and Protestants, to take every opportunity of celebrating such an illustrious hero as the King of Prussia; and, however unequal the strains may be thought, yet if they contribute ever so little to raise an imitation of his noble and almost divine atchievments, in the cause of Religion and Liberty, our end will be fully answered.
ON THE GLORIOUS VICTORY OBTAINED BY
THE HEROICK KING OF PRUSSIA OVER THE
IMPERIAL ARMY NEAR NEWMARK IN
SILESIA THE 5TH DECEMBER 1757.
I.
My muse! again attempt the lyre;
Rouse! rouse! thy whole poetic fire!
Great Fredrick's deeds do still require
More ample praise.
Let his great acts the verse inspire,
And tuneful be thy lays.
II.
Illustrious Hannibal of old,
Caesar the brave and Scipio bold,
For battles won stand high enroll'd
In hist'ry's page!
Let Fred'rick's name with theirs be told,
The Hero of his age!
III.
Rosbach! thy plain the Victor owns!
'Twas fill'd with shrieks and dying groans,
And mangled limbs and shatter'd bones—
In heaps they lay!
The vanquished Gaul as yet bemoans
That inauspicious day.
IV.
Yea Fred'rick bent on conquests new,
Doth Alexander-like pursue,
As if the world he would subdue—
Undaunted prince!
That thou 'rt a Hero great and true
Each action doth evince.
V.
Silesia first demands relief,
His losses there augment his grief;
Thitherward the Prussians and their Chief,
To Bevern's aid
Make hasty marches; and in brief
Their parts they nobly play'd.
VI.
See! see! the godlike Man proceed!
And vet'ran bands to battle lead,
Inur'd to toil, and warlike deed,
A hardy race!
Such troops are princes' friends indeed,
And do their Leader grace.
VII.
The trumpet's sound, and loudest noise
Of martial drums, increase their joys;
Not by compulsion led, but choice,
And bold to fight,
Their Country's cause in mind they poise;
War! War! is their delight!
VIII.
Now they engage with furious shout;
And join in battle fierce and stout,
Th' invet'rate Foe at length they rout;
And loud they cry—
O! matchless Prussians! ne'er give out;
Pursue! Cut off! Destroy!