Forming the wondrous year within his thought; His bosom glowed with battles yet unfought. The long, laborious march he first surveys, And joins the distant Danube to the Mæse, Between whose floods such pathless forests grow, Such mountains rise, so many rivers flow: _70 The toil looks lovely in the hero's eyes, And danger serves but to enhance the prize. Big with the fate of Europe, he renews His dreadful course, and the proud foe pursues: Infected by the burning Scorpion's heat, The sultry gales round his chafed temples beat, Till on the borders of the Maine he finds Defensive shadows and refreshing winds. Our British youth, with inborn freedom bold, Unnumbered scenes of servitude behold, _80 Nations of slaves, with tyranny debased, (Their Maker's image more than half defaced,) Hourly instructed, as they urge their toil, To prize their queen, and love their native soil. Still to the rising sun they take their way Through clouds of dust, and gain upon the clay; When now the Neckar on its friendly coast With cooling streams revives the fainting host, That cheerfully its labours past forgets, The midnight watches, and the noonday heats. _90 O'er prostrate towns and palaces they pass, (Now covered o'er with weeds and hid in grass,) Breathing revenge; whilst anger and disdain Fire every breast, and boil in every vein: Here shattered walls, like broken rocks, from far Rise up in hideous views, the guilt of war, Whilst here the vine o'er hills of ruin climbs, Industrious to conceal great Bourbon's crimes, At length the fame of England's hero drew, Eugenio to the glorious interview. _100 Great souls by instinct to each other turn, Demand alliance, and in friendship burn; A sudden friendship, while with stretched-out rays They meet each other, mingling blaze with blaze. Polished in courts, and hardened in the field, Renowned for conquest, and in council skilled, Their courage dwells not in a troubled flood Of mounting spirits, and fermenting blood: Lodged in the soul, with virtue overruled, Inflamed by reason, and by reason cooled, _110 In hours of peace content to be unknown, And only in the field of battle shown: To souls like these, in mutual friendship joined, Heaven dares intrust the cause of humankind. Britannia's graceful sons appear in arms, Her harassed troops the hero's presence warms, Whilst the high hills and rivers all around With thundering peals of British shouts resound: Doubling their speed, they march with fresh delight, Eager for glory, and require the fight. _120 So the staunch hound the trembling deer pursues, And smells his footsteps in the tainted dews, The tedious track unravelling by degrees: But when the scent comes warm in every breeze, Fired at the near approach, he shoots away On his full stretch, and bears upon his prey. The march concludes, the various realms are past,