New to the field, and heroes in the bloom! The illustrious youths, that left their native shore

To march where Britons never marched before,

(O fatal love of fame! O glorious heat, Only destructive to the brave and great!) 160 After such toils o'ercome, such dangers past, Stretched on Bavarian ramparts breathe their last.

But hold, my Muse, may no complaints appear,

Nor blot the day with an ungrateful tear: While Marlborough lives, Britannia's stars dispense

165

A friendly light, and shine in innocence. Plunging through seas of blood his fiery steed

Where'er his friends retire, or foes succeed; Those he supports, these drives to sudden flight,

And turns the various fortune of the fight. 170 Forbear, great man, renowned in arms, forbear

To brave the thickest terrors of the war, Nor hazard thus, confused in crowds of foes, Britannia's safety, and the world's repose; Let nations, anxious for thy life, abate 175 This scorn of danger and contempt of fate: Thou livest not for thyself; thy queen demands

Conquest and peace from thy victorious. hands;

Kingdoms and empires in thy fortune join, And Europe's destiny depends on thine. 180 At length the long-disputed pass they gain, By crowded armies fortified in vain;

Befriends the rout, and covers their disgrace.

To Donawert, with unresisted force, The gay, victorious army bends its course. The growth of meadows, and the pride of fields, Whatever yields, (The Danube's great increase,) Britannia shares,

spoils Bavaria's

summer 200

The food of armies, and support of wars: With magazines of death, destructive balls, And cannons doomed to batter Landau's walls,

The victor finds each hidden cavern stored, 205

And turns their fury on their guilty lord. Deluded prince! how is thy greatness crossed,

And all the gaudy dream of empire lost, That proudly set thee on a fancied throne, And made imaginary realms thy own! 210 Thy troops that now behind the Danube join, Shall shortly seek for shelter from the Rhine,

Nor find it there: surrounded with alarms, Thou hop'st the assistance of the Gallic arms;

The Gallic arms in safety shall advance, 215
And crowd thy standards with the power of
France,

While to exalt thy doom, the aspiring Gaul
Shares thy destruction, and adorns thy fall.
Unbounded
courage and compassion

joined,

Sceptres and thrones are destined to obey,
Whose boasted ancestry so high extends
That in the pagan gods his lineage ends, 410
Comes from afar, in gratitude to own
The great supporter of his father's throne;
What tides of glory to his bosom ran,
Clasped in the embraces of the godlike
man!

How were his eyes with pleasing wonder fixed

415 To see such fire with so much sweetness mixed,

Such easy greatness, such a graceful port, So turned and finished for the camp or court!

Achilles thus was formed with every grace, And Nireus shone but in the second place;

420

Thus the great father of almighty Rome
(Divinely flushed with an immortal bloom,
That Cytherea's fragrant breath bestowed)
In all the charms of his bright mother

glowed.

445

Vengeance reserved for his declining years,
Forgets his thirst of universal sway,
And scarce can teach his subjects to obey;
His arms he finds on vain attempts em-
ployed,

The ambitious projects for his race destroyed,

The work of ages sunk in one campaign, And lives of millions sacrificed in vain. 450

Such are the effects of Anna's royal cares: By her, Britannia, great in foreign wars, Ranges through nations, wheresoe'er disjoined,

Without the wonted aid of sea and wind. By her the unfettered Ister's states are free,

455

And mark that point where Sense and Dulness meet.

Nature to all things fixed the limits fit, And wisely curbed proud man's pretending wit.

As on the land while here the ocean gains,
In other parts it leaves wide sandy plains; 55
Thus in the soul while Memory prevails,
The solid power of Understanding fails;
Where beams of warm Imagination play,
The Memory's soft figures melt away.
One Science only will one genius fit;
So vast is Art, so narrow human wit:
Not only bounded to peculiar arts,
But oft in those confined to single parts.
Like Kings we lose the conquests gained be-
fore,

60