[Page 88]

THE BATTLE OF THE NILE.
49 This poem, “Coombe Ellen,” “St Michael's Mount,” et cet., down to the Monody on Dr Warton, originally dedicated to the Countess of Mansfield, are dated from Donhead, 1802.

1 Shout! for the Lord hath triumphed gloriously!
2 Upon the shores of that renowned land,
3 Where erst His mighty arm and outstretched hand
4 He lifted high,
5 And dashed, in pieces dashed the enemy; —
6 Upon that ancient coast,
7 Where Pharaoh's chariot and his host
8 He cast into the deep,
9 Whilst o'er their silent pomp He bid the swoll'n sea sweep;
10 Upon that eastern shore,
11 That saw His awful arm revealed of yore,
12 Again hath He arisen, and opposed
13 His foes' defying vaunt: o'er them the deep hath closed!
14 Shades of mighty chiefs of yore,
15 Who triumphed on the self-same shore:
16 Ammon, who first o'er ocean's empire wide
17 Didst bid the bold bark stem the roaring tide;
18 Sesac, who from the East to farthest West
19 Didst rear thy pillars over realms subdued;
20 And thou, whose bones do rest
21 In the huge pyramid's dim solitude,
22 Beneath the uncouth stone,
23 Thy name and deeds unknown;
24 And Philip's glorious son,
25 With conquest flushed, for fields and cities won;
26 And thou, imperial Cæsar, whose sole sway
27 The long-disputed world at length confessed,
28 When on these shores thy bleeding rival lay! [Page 89]
29 Oh, could ye, starting from your long cold rest,
30 Burst Death's oblivious trance,
31 And once again with plumed pride advance,
32 How would ye own your fame surpassed,
33 And on the sand your trophies cast,
34 When, the storm of conflict o'er,
35 And ceased the burning battle's roar,
36 Beneath the morning's orient light,
37 Ye saw, with sails all swelling white,
38 Britain's proud fleet, to many a joyful cry,
39 Ride o'er the rolling surge in awful sovereignty!
40 For fierce Ambition fired your mind —
41 Beside your glittering car,
42 Amid the thickest war,
43 Went Superstition, sorceress blind,
44 In dimly-figured robe, with scowling mien,
45 Half hid in jealous hood;
46 And Tyranny, beneath whose helm was seen
47 His eye suffused with blood;
48 And giant Pride,
49 That the great sun with haughty smile defied;
50 And Avarice, that grasped his guilty gold;
51 These, as the sorceress her loud sistrum rung,
52 Their dismal pæan sung;
53 And still, far off, pale Pity hung her head,
54 Whilst o'er the dying and the dead
55 The victor's brazen wheels with gory axle rolled.
56 Now look on him, in holy courage bold;
57 The asserter of his country's cause behold!
58 He lifts his gaze to heaven, serenely brave,
59 And whilst around war's fearful banners wave,
60 He prays: Protect us, as our cause is just;
61 For in thy might alone, Judge of the world, we trust! [Page 90]
62 And they are scattered — the destroyers die!
63 They that usurped the bloody victor's claim,
64 That spoke of freedom; but, behold a cry!
65 They, that like a wasteful flame,
66 Or the huge sandy pillar, that amain
67 Whirls 'mid the silence of the desert plain,
68 Deathful in their career of terror came,
69 And scattered ruin as they passed!
70 So rush they, like the simoom's horrid blast;
71 They sweep, and all around is wilderness!
72 But from thy throne on high,
73 Thou, God, hast heard the cry
74 Of nations in distress!
75 Britain goes forth, beneath thy might,
76 To quell the proud blasphemers in the fight;
77 And Egypt, far along her winding main,
78 Echoes the shout of joy, and genuine Freedom's strain!
79 Now let them, who thy name, O God! defy,
80 Invoke the mighty Prophet of the East;
81 Or deck, as erst, the mystic feast
82 To Ashtaroth, queen of the starry sky!
83 Let them, in some cavern dark,
84 Seek Osiris' buried ark;
85 Or call on Typhon, of gigantic form,
86 Lifting his hundred arms, and howling 'mid the storm!
87 Or to that grisly king
88 In vain their cymbals let them ring,
89 To him in Tophet's vale revered
90 (With smoke his brazen idol smeared),
91 Grim Moloch, in whose fuming furnace blue
92 The unpitying priest the shrieking infant threw,
93 Whilst to shrill cries, and drums' and timbrels' sound,
94 The frantic and unhearing troop danced round;[Page 91]
95 To him despairing let them go,
96 And tell their fearful tale of hideous overthrow!
97 Calm breathed the airs along the evening bay,
98 Where, all in warlike pride,
99 The Gallic squadron stretched its long array;
100 And o'er the tranquil tide
101 With beauteous bend the streamers waved on high
102 But, ah! how changed the scene ere night descends!
103 Hark to the shout that heaven's high concave rends!
104 Hark to that dying cry!
105 Whilst, louder yet, the cannon's roar
106 Resounds along the Nile's affrighted shore,
107 Where, from his oozy bed,
108 The cowering crocodile hath raised his head!
109 What bursting flame
110 Lightens the long track of the gleamy brine!
111 From yon proud ship it came,
112 That towered the leader of the hostile line!
113 Now loud explosion rends the midnight air!
114 Heard ye the last deep groaning of despair?
115 Heaven's fiery cope unwonted thunders fill,
116 Then, with one dreadful pause, earth, air, and seas are still!
117 But now the mingled fight
118 Begins its awful strife again!
119 Through the dun shades of night
120 Along the darkly-heaving main
121 Is seen the frequent flash;
122 And many a towering mast with dreadful crash
123 Rings falling. Is the scene of slaughter o'er?
124 Is the death-cry heard no more?
125 Lo! where the East a glimmering freckle streaks,
126 Slow o'er the shadowy wave the gray dawn breaks. [Page 92]
127 Behold, O Sun, the flood
128 Strewed with the dead, and dark with blood!
129 Behold, all scattered on the rocking tide,
130 The wrecks of haughty Gallia's pride!
131 But Britain's floating bulwarks, with serene
132 And silent pomp, amid the deathful scene
133 Move glorious, and more beautiful display
134 Their ensigns streaming to thy orient ray.
135 Awful Genius of the land!
136 Who (thy reign of glory closed)
137 By marble wrecks, half-hid in sand,
138 Hast mournfully reposed;
139 Who long, amid the wasteful desert wide,
140 Hast loved with death-like stillness to abide;
141 Or wrapped in tenfold gloom,
142 From noise of human things for ages hid,
143 Hast sat upon the shapeless tomb
144 In the forlorn and dripping pyramid;
145 Awake! Arise!
146 Though thou behold the day no more
147 That saw thy pride and pomp of yore;
148 Though, like the sounds that in the morning ray
149 Trembled and died away
150 From Memnon's statue; though, like these, the voice
151 That bade thy vernal plains rejoice,
152 The voice of Science, is no longer heard;
153 And all thy gorgeous state hath disappeared:
154 Yet hear, with triumph, and with hope again,
155 The shouts of joy that swell from thy forsaken main!
156 And, oh! might He, at whose command
157 Deep darkness shades a mourning land;[Page 93]
158 At whose command, bursting from night,
159 And flaming with redoubled light,
160 The Sun of Science mounts again,
161 And re-illumes the wide-extended plain!
162 Might He, from this eventful day,
163 Illustrious Egypt, to thy shore
164 Science, Freedom, Peace restore,
165 And bid thy crowded ports their ancient pomp display!
166 No more should Superstition mark,
167 In characters uncouth and dark,
168 Her dreary, monumental shrine!
169 No more should meek-eyed Piety
170 Outcast, insulted lie
171 Beneath the mosque, whose golden crescents shine,
172 But starting from her trance,
173 O'er Nubia's sands advance
174 Beyond the farthest fountains of the Nile!
175 The dismal Gallas should behold her smile,
176 And Abyssinia's inmost rocks rejoice
177 To hear her awful lore, yet soft consoling voice!
178 Hasten, O God! the time, when never more
179 Pale Pity, from her moonlight seat shall hear,
180 And dropping at the sound a fruitless tear,
181 The far-off battle's melancholy roar;
182 When never more Horror's portentous cry
183 Shall sound amid the troubled sky;
184 Or dark Destruction's grimly-smiling mien,
185 Through the red flashes of the fight be seen!
186 Father in heaven! our ardent hopes fulfil;
187 Thou speakest "Peace," and the vexed world is still!
188 Yet should Oppression huge arise,
189 And with bloody banners spread,[Page 94]
190 Upon the gasping nations tread,
191 Whilst he thy name defies,
192 Trusting in Thee alone, we hope to quell
193 His furious might, his purpose fell;
194 And as the ensigns of his baffled pride
195 O'er the seas are scattered wide,
196 We will take up a joyous strain and cry —
197 Shout! for the Lord hath triumphed gloriously!

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Title (in Source Edition): THE BATTLE OF THE NILE.
Author: William Lisle Bowles
Themes:
Genres: narrative verse

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Bowles, William Lisle, 1762-1850. The Poetical Works of William Lisle Bowles, Vol. I. With Memoir, Critical Dissertation, and Explanatory Notes by George Gilfillan. Edinburgh: James Nichol, 9 North Bank Street..., 1855, pp. 88-94.  (Page images digitized from a copy held at the University of California Libraries.)

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