In which he was opposed by young and hoary,
Which made a long debate. But I must halt;
For if I wrote down every warrior's speech,
I doubt few readers e'er would mount the breach.

XXXVI.

[tion,

Lovely as those which ripen'd Eden's fruit ;
For war cuts up not only branch, but root.

XLII.

Our friends the Turks, who with loud Allahs'
Began to signalize the Russ retreat, [now
Were damnably mistaken; few are slow
In thinking that their enemy is beat,

There was a man, if that he was a man,
Not that his manhood could be call'd in ques-(Or beaten, if you insist on grammar, though

For had he not been Hercules, his span

Had been as short in youth as indigestion Made his last illness, when, all worn and wan, He died beneath a tree, as much unblest on The soil of the green province he had wasted, As e'er was locust on the land it blasted.

XXXVII.

This was Potemkin-a great thing in days
When homicide and harlotry made great;
If stars and titles could entail long praise,
His glory might half equal his estate.
This fellow, being six foot high, could raise
A kind of phantasy proportionate
In the then sovereign of the Russian people,
Who measured men as you would do a steeple.

XXXVIII.

While things were in abeyance, Ribas sent
A courier to the prince, and he succeeded
In ordering matters after his own bent;

I cannot tell the way in which he pleaded,

But shortly he had cause to be content.

In the mean time, the batteries proceeded,

I never think about it in a heat).

But here I say the Turks were much mistaken,
Who, hating hogs, yet wish'd to save their bacon.

XLIII.

For, on the sixteenth, at full gallop, drew

In sight two horsemen, who were deem'd
Cossacques,

For some time, till they came in nearer view;
They had but little baggage at their backs,
For there were but three shirts between the two;
But on they rode, upon two Ukraine hacks,
Till, in approaching, were at length descried,
In this plain pair, Suwarrow and his guide.

XLIV.

'Great joy to London now!' says some great
When London had a grand illumination, fool,
Which to that bottle-conjuror, John Bull,

Is of all dreams the first hallucination;
So that the streets of colour'd lamps are full,
That sage (said John) surrenders at discretion
His purse, his soul, his sense, and even his non-

sense,

And fourscore cannon, on the Danube's border, To gratify, like a huge moth, this one sense. Were briskly fired, and answer'd in due order.

XXXIX.

But on the thirteenth, when already part

Of the troops were embark'd, the siege to raise, A courier on the spur inspired new heart

Into all panters for newspaper praise.

As well as dilettanti in war's art,

By his despatches, couch'd in pithy phrase, Announcing the appointment of that lover of

XLV.

'Tis strange that he should further damn his eyes,'

For they are damn'd; that once all-famous
Fath
Is to the devil now no further prize,

Since John has lately lost the use of both.
Debt he calls wealth, and taxes Paradise;
And Famine, with her gaunt and bony growth,

Battles to the command, Field-Marshal Sou-Which stares him in the face, he won't examine,

In former works, made new, prepared fascines,
And all kinds of benevolent machines.

XLVIII.

"Tis thus the spirit of a single mind

Makes that of multitudes take one direction, As roll the waters to the breathing wind,

Or roams the herd beneath the bull's protecOr as a little dog will lead the blind, [tion; Or a bell-wether form the flock's connection By tinkling sounds, when they go forth to victual: Such is the sway of your great men o'er little.

XLIX.

The whole camp rung with joy: you would have
thought

That they were going to a marriage feast
(This metaphor, I think, holds good as aught,
Since there is discord after both, at least):
There was not now a luggage-boy but sought
Danger and spoil with ardour much increased;
And why? because a little-odd-old man,
Stript to his shirt, was come to lead the van.

L.

But so it was; and every preparation

Was made with all alacrity: the first Detachment of three columns took its station, And waited but the signal's voice to burst Upon the foe: the second's ordination

Was also in three columns, with a thirst For glory, gaping o'er a sea of slaughter: The third, in columns two, attack'd by water.

LI.

New batteries were erected, and was held
A general council, in which unanimity,
That stranger to most councils, here prevail'd,
As sometimes happens in a great extremity;
And every difficulty being dispell'd,

Glory began to dawn with due sublimity,
While Souvaroff, determined to obtain it,
Was teaching his recruits to use the bayonet.*

LII.

It is an actual fact, that he, commander-
In-chief, in proper person deign'd to drill

Whereon immediately, at his request,

They brought him and his comrades to head-
quarters;
[guess'd
Their dress was Moslem, but you might have
That these were merely masquerading Tartars,
And that beneath each Turkish-fashion'd vest
Lurk'd Christianity; which sometimes barters
Her inward grace for outward show, and makes

The awkward squad, and could afford to It difficult to shun some strange mistakes.