But that name shall be restored, By the Gulf of Persia sail, Though Arabia charge the breeze Cape of storms, thy spectre fled, And where Table-mountain stands, Barbarous hordes from desert sands Bless the sight with lifted hands. St. Helena's dungeon-keep Who he was, and how he fell, On that theme all time shall dwell. But henceforth, till nature dies, Mammon's plague-ships throng the waves: O, 't were mercy to the slaves, Were the maws of sharks their graves! Not for all the gems and gold, Land of negroes! would I dare Hercules! thy pillars stand, Where, when Cato's word was fate, And where exiled Marius sate, Mark the dens of caitiff Moors; Ha! the pirates seize their oars : Egypt's hieroglyphic realm Other floods than Nile's o'erwhelm ; Judah's cities are forlorn, Lebanon and Carmel shorn, Zion trampled down with scorn. Greece, thine ancient lamp is spent; And a wind is on the wing, At whose breath new heroes spring, Italy, thy beauties shroud Rome, in ruins lovely still, Bids thee, mourner, weep thy fill. Yet where Roman genius reigns, Splendid realm of old romance, Spain, thy tower-crowned crest advance, Grasp the shield and couch the lance. At the fire-flash of thine eye, Giant bigotry would fly, At thy voice oppression die. Lusitania, from the dust, Shake thy locks, thy cause is just; Strike for freedom, strike and trust. France, I hurry from thy shore; Great thou wast; and who like thee? Sweep by Holland like the blast, Elbe nor Weser tempt my stay; When thy schools again bear sway! Now to thee, to thee, I fly, I have seen them, one by one, While I bid them all be blest, James Montgomery. |