"No wild illusion cheats thy sight "With shapes that only live in night-- "Mark the native glories spread "Around my bleeding brow! "The crown of Albion wreath'd my head, "And Gallia's lilies[A] twin'd below-- "When my father shook his spear, "When his banner sought the skies, "Her baffled host recoil'd with fear, "Nor turn'd their shrinking eyes:-- "Soon as the daring eagle springs "To bask in heav'n's empyreal light, "The vultures ply their baleful wings, "A cloud of deep'ning colour marks their flight, "Staining the golden day:-- "But see! amid the rav'nous brood "A bird of fiercer aspect soar-- "The spirits of a rival race[B], "Hang on the noxious blast, and trace, "With gloomy joy his destin'd prey; "Inflame th' ambitious with that thirsts for blood, "And plunge his talons deep in kindred gore. [A] Henry the Sixth, crowned when an infant, at Paris. [B] Richard the Third, by murdering so many near relations, seemed to revenge the sufferings of Henry the Sixth, and his family, on the House of York. V. "View the stern form that hovers nigh, "Fierce rolls his dauntless eye "In scorn of hideous death; "Till starting at a brother's[A] name, "Horror shrinks his glowing frame, "Locks the half-utter'd groan, "And chills the parting breath:-- "Astonish'd Nature heav'd a moan! "When her affrighted eye beheld the hands "She form'd to cherish, rend her holy bands. [A] Richard the Third, who murdered his brother the Duke of Clarence. VI.