In mute attention sate the kindling heroes; And as the mighty master touch'd the lyre, Their glowing bosoms heave with thirst of praise. From sacred Troy the lofty strain began, When fierce Minerva wrapp'd her walls in flames. Now tost by tempests, now by arms assail'd; The beauteous dame deriv'd her race divine t Eneas. From Faunus, long in Latian realms ador'd, And hoary Saturn, Jove's immortal sire. They lov'd in secret, till her swelling waist Their stolen joys betray'd. Then prophets sung * Portentous strains. At length, foredoom'd the bane o Of those who gave him life, a guiltless parricide, Sprung into light the fatal babe. Amidst. He glean'd the relics of the Trojan name, And shook astonish'd Greece with dire alarms. Thence led by heav'n his vent'rous sails unfurl'd, ga zat And prest the bosom of the stormy deep, A new Æneas, Now with daring prow, Full of the god, he stems the raging wave; Now dyes with hostile blood th' Iberian strand; Now proud with Gallic spoils. At length appears The western isle, the period of his toils: For thus from Leogecia's holy fane, (Fair Leogecia, once to Cynthia dear, Till, rous'd to vengeance by an impious race, Nor were her oracles believ'd in vain : For as the fleet approach'd the destin'd shore, The winds were hush'd, and every heaving wave Subsided. Mov'd by some superior pow'r, Its future lords) the prows divide the deep, Then rush to war the martial race of Troy ; There great Assaracus, brave Turon there, And there Corineus wields his fatal lance: And trembled in their rocky caves. Their hills, Receives the warriors in her soft embrace, And Ceres crowns their fields. Another Troy Now rises, empress of the western world. Her lofty structures, and her glitt'ring fanes, The mighty stream, that rolls majestic by, But now the bard awakens all his fires, And sweeps with bolder rage the sounding strings; Invokes the Muse to aid his daring song, And feels the goddess present at his call. With glowing bosom, and with sparkling eyes, He sung the hero of the frozen north. Now pouring dreadful from a thousand ships His savage warriors on Albania's shore. How fierce the conflict, by the foaming main, When Britain fled, and Albanact expir'd! Behold, he comes, the great avenger comes, |