Far sunnier Isles the South make glad, From Palma’s gulf to the Ægean; Idalia rose and myrtle clad, Sicilian shores, and bowers Dictæan; The Cyclades that shine to snare, From Lemnos old to Rhodes romantic; And far Funchál, whose balmy air Swells earth’s best vine ’mid the Atlantic. 4. But, oh loved land! what magic lifts Thee high above all rival glory, Fills up the void of Nature’s gifts, And makes thy deeds the pride of story? What charm endues thy talisman, Thou chrysolite amid the waters, And deifies the power of man? The genius of thy sons and daughters! 5. The vigorous thought, the spirit firm, The pride of truth, the deep devotion, The labouring head and stalwart arm, That crown thee Queen of Earth and Ocean! That clothe with grain thy rugged steeps, Thy factory piles make teem prolific, And man the fleet each sea that sweeps To make its trembling shores pacific. 6. Illustrious land! Yet more than this, Thou harbourest all life’s solid graces-- No fiends that murder with a kiss-- No treacherous breasts ’neath smiling faces! Oh! still be thine the bold, the true, The honest, manly, independent; In mind, in heart, in sinew, too, O’er every other land transcendent! XXXIX. Nor slow was Rey the city to defend, Exhausting all the arts that War supplies. A yawning chasm within the breach doth end; Loopholed with fire a counterwall defies Approach;--where’er the rampart broken lies, A traverse cuts it off--the streets are trenched; Mines trebly charged prepare to blot the skies With shattered limb, and head from shoulder wrenched, Of him who dares the assault, yet not a cheek is blenched! XL. And strongest whetstone of fierce Valour’s edge Thy name, Napoléon! For thee would dare Thy Guard to leap adown Destruction’s ledge, For thee would scoff in mockery of Despair! Genius and energy thou well couldst share With all thy Chiefs, and courage give thy men, That scorned to yield with life their lion-lair. A barbarous strife thou didst require--what then? The last Barbarian thou that rushed from Scythian den! XLI. Meteor of Conquest! terribly endowed With every faculty to bless or mar, With voice to speak to Man like trumpet loud, And eagle-eye with ken for peace or war Omnipotent, save when Heaven dealt the scar! Thy course for bale that might have been for bliss, Thy darling Victory streamed a crimson star. Around thy laurelled forehead serpents hiss; And closed thy glory’s dawn, Destroyer, choice like this! XLII.