Page:Marmion - Walter Scott (ed. Bayne, 1889).pdf/37

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INTRODUCTION TO CANTO FIRST.
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But oh! my Country's wintry stateWhat second spring shall renovate?What powerful call shall bid ariseThe buried warlike and the wise; 60The mind that thought for Britain's weal,The hand that grasp'd the victor steel?The vernal sun new life bestowsEven on the meanest flower that blows;But vainly, vainly may he shine, 65Where Glory weeps o'er Nelson's shrine:And vainly pierce the solemn gloom,That shrouds, O Pitt, thy hallow'd tomb!
 Deep graved in every British heart,O never let those names depart! 70Say to your sons,—Lo, here his grave,Who victor died on Gadite wave;To him, as to the burning levin,Short, bright, resistless course was given.Where'er his country's foes were found, 75Was heard the fated thunder's sound,Till burst the bolt on yonder shore,Roll'd, blazed, destroyed,—and was no more.
 Nor mourn ye less his perished worth,Who bade the conqueror go forth, 80And launch'd that thunderbolt of warOn Egypt, Hafnia, Trafalgar;Who, born to guide such high emprize,For Britain's weal was early wise;Alas! to whom the Almighty gave, 85For Britain's sins, an early grave!His worth, who, in his mightiest hour,A bauble held the pride of power,Spum'd at the sordid lust of pelf,And served his Albion for herself; 90Who, when the frantic crowd amainStrain'd at subjection's bursting rein,
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