Nor was one forward footstep stay'd, And on the wounded and the slain Till from their line scarce spears'-lengths three, As when they practise to display 230 Their discipline on festal day. 235 Then down went helm and lance, Wheel'd full against their staggering flanks, Then to the musket-knell succeeds 240 The clash of swords—the neigh of steeds- The well-served cannon rent their way, 250 Their leaders fall'n, their standards lost. 236. Wheeled for having wheeled. See Cowper's Task, 1. 4, nɔte. XIII. Then, WELLINGTON ! thy piercing eye The British host had stood That morn 'gainst charge of sword and lance O Thou, whose inauspicious aim Hath wrought thy host this hour of shame, 260 Think'st thou, thy broken bands will bide The terrors of yon rushing tide ? Or will thy chosen brook to feel 270 Think not that in yon columns, file Or dwells not in thy memory still, (Heard frequent in thine hour of ill,) 275 What yet remains ?—shall it be thine In one dread effort more ? The Roman lore thy leisure loved, And thou canst tell, what fortune proved 255. Stance.-Firm ; a Scotch word, connected with staunch. 259. Thy host.-Dative case. 269. Dyle.-The river flowing past Wavre, where, simultaneously with the battle of Waterloo, the French general, Grouchy, attacked the Prussian army. 272. Thine hour.-See Shakspere's Merchant of Venice, Act 1. Scene 1, 120. 275. Shall it be thine to head.-Compare "What ghastly sights were thine to meet," 161. 280 That Chieftain, who of yore For empire enterprised He stood the cast, his rashness play'd, 285 Left not the victims, he had made, Dug his red grave with his own blade And on the field, he lost, was laid, Abhorr'd-but not despised. XIV. But if revolves thy fainter thought To gild the military fame 295 Which thou, for life, in traffic tame Shall future ages tell this tale A torrent fierce and wide; 305 Reft of these aids, a rill obscure, Shrinking unnoticed, mean and poor, Whose channel shows display'd 280. The allusion to the reckless and worthless Catiline is anything but flattering, and, we may add, appropriate to Napoleon. 291. Thy fearful rein.—The qualification fearful, which belongs properly to the agent, the subject of the sentence, is poetically joined to another part of the sentence, with which logically it has nothing to do. 296. Thus, i.e, by turning to flight. 310 The wrecks of its impetuous course, By which these wrecks were made! XV. Spur on thy way, since now thine ear Has brook'd thy veterans' wish to hear. Who, as thy flight they eyed, Exclaim'd,-while tears of anguish came, 315 Wrung forth by pride, and rage, and shame,— "O that he had but died!" But yet, to sum this hour of ill, 325 Down the dread current hurl'd- XVI. 330 List-frequent to the hurrying rout, 335 When Beresina's icy flood Redden'd and thaw'd with flame and blood. Raised oft and long their wild hurra The children of the Don. 339. The children of the Don.-The Cossacks. 340 Thine ear no yell of horror cleft Of aid, the valiant Polack left- Reserved thee still some future cast; Not one campaign-thy martial fame, And now o'er thy devoted head XVII. 355 Since live thou wilt-refuse not now Against whose heart, in prosperous life, 342. The valiant Polack.-After the fatal battle of Leipsic, the Polish general Poniatowski was drowned in the river Elster, the bridge of which had been blown up by the French to cover their retreat. 356. These demagogues.-The Republican party in France. 361. From the foe is governed by seeking, not by refuge. 364. Such homage, i.e., seeking refuge from the foe. 365. Coriolanus and Themistocles filed to the enemies of their country for protection from the bostile party at home |