O’ER the rough main with flowing sheet | |
| The guardian of a numerous fleet, | |
| Serapis from the Baltic came; | |
| A ship of less tremendous force | |
| Sailed by her side the self-same course, | 5 |
| Countess of Scarb’ro, was her name. * * * * * | |
| Full forty guns Serapis bore, | |
| And Scarb’ro’s Countess twenty-four, | |
| Manned with old England’s boldest tars— | |
| What flag that rides the Gallic seas | 10 |
| Shall dare attack such piles as these, | |
| Designed for tumults and for wars! * * * * * | |
| ’Twas Jones, brave Jones, to battle led | |
| As bold a crew as ever bled | |
| Upon the sky-surrounded main; | 15 |
| The standards of the Western World | |
| Were to the willing winds unfurled, | |
| Denying Britain’s tyrant reign. | |
| |
| The Good Man Richard led the line; | |
| The Alliance next; with these combine | 20 |
| The Gallic ship they Pallas call; | |
| The Vengeance, armed with sword and flame, | |
| These to attack the Britons came— | |
| But two accomplished all. * * * * * | |
| Go on, great man, to daunt the foe, | 25 |
| And bid the haughty Britons know | |
| They to our Thirteen Stars shall bend; | |
| Those Stars that, veiled in dark attire, | |
| Long glimmered with a feeble fire, | |
| But radiant now ascend. | 30 |
| |
| Bend to the Stars that flaming rise | |
| In western, not in eastern, skies, | |
| Fair Freedom’s reign restored— | |
| So when the Magi, come from far | |
| Beheld the God-attending Star, | 35 |
| They trembled and adored. | |
| |
