The lightning suddenly Unsheathed its flaming sword, And I cried: "Stand still, and see The salvation of the Lord!" The heavens were black with cloud, The sea was white with hail, And ever more fierce and loud Blew the October gale. The fleet it overtook, And the broad sails in the van Like the tents of Cushan shook, Or the curtains of Midian. Down on the reeling decks Crashed the o'erwhelming seas; Ah, never were there wrecks So pitiful as these! Like a potter's vessel broke The great ships of the line; They were carried away as a smoke, Or sank like lead in the brine. O Lord! before thy path They vanished and ceased to be, When thou didst walk in wrath With thine horses through the sea! HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW. Peace was made at Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748, but it was really only a truce. England and France could not be permanently at peace until one or the other was undisputed master of the North American continent. The French claimed all the country west of the Alleghanies and enforced their claims by building a string of forts, among them Fort Duquesne at the head of the Ohio. At last, in 1755, was "the British Lyon roused." THE BRITISH LYON ROUSED [1755] Hail, great Apollo! guide my feeble pen, To rouse the august lion from his den, Exciting vengeance on the worst of men. Rouse, _British Lion_, from thy soft repose, And take revenge upon the worst of foes, Who try to ring and hawl you by the nose. They always did thy quiet breast annoy, Raising rebellion with the Rival boy, Seeking thy faith and interest to destroy. Treaties and oaths they always did break thro', They never did nor would keep faith with you By popes and priests indulged so to do. All neighboring powers and neutral standers by Look on our cause with an impartial eye, And see their falseness and their perfidy. Their grand encroachments on us ne'er did cease. But by indulgence mightily increase, Killing and scalping us in times of peace. They buy our scalps exciting savage clans, In children's blood for to imbue their hands, Assisted by their cruel Gallic bands. Britains, strike home, strike home decisive blows Upon the heads of your perfidious foes, Who always truth and justice did oppose. Go brave the ocean with your war-like ships, And speak your terror o'er the western deeps, And crush the squadrons of the Gallic fleets. Cleave liquid mountains of the foaming flood, And tinge the billows with the Gallic blood, A faithful drubbing to their future good. Bury their squadrons ill in watery tombs; And when the news unto Versailles it comes, Let Lewis swear by Gar and gnaw his thumbs. Oh! ride triumphant o'er the Gallic powers, And conquer all these cursed foes of ours, And sweep the ocean with your iron showers.