984 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1805. 



Flies on, and full upon the first canoe 



Drives, shattering ; midway its long length it struck, 



And o'er the wreck, with unimpeded force, 



Dashes among the fleet. The astonished men 



Gaze in inactive terror. They behold 



Their splintered vessels floating all around, 



Their warriors struggling in the lake, with arms 



Experienced in the battle vainly now, 



Dismayed, they drop their bows, and cast away 



Their unavailing spears, and take to flight. 



Before the masters of the elements. 



Who rode the waters, and who made the winds 



Wing them to vengeance ! Forward now they bend, 



And backward then, with strenuous strain of arm, 



Press the broad paddle. . . Hope of victory 



Was none, nor of defence, nor of revenge, 



To sweeten death. Toward the shore they speed, 



Toward the shore they lift their longing eyes : . . 



O fools, to meet on their own element 



The sons of ocean ! . . Could they but aland 



Set foot, the strife were equal, or to die 



Less dreadful. But, as if with wings of wind, 



On fly the British barks ! . . the favouring breeze 



Blows strong ; . . far, far behind their roaring kcel» 



Lies the long line of foam ; the helm directs 



Their force : they move, as with the limbs of life. 



Obedient to the will that governs them. 



^^'here'er they pass, the crashing shock is heard, 



The dash of broken waters, and the cry 



Of sinking multitudes. Here one plies fast 



The practised limbs of youth, but o'er his head 



The galley drives ; one follows a cunoc, 



With skill availing only to prolong 



Suffering; another, as, with wiser aim, 



He swims across, to meet his coming friends, 



Stunned by the hasty and unheeding oar, 



Sinks senseless to the depths. Lo ! yonder boat, 



Graspt by the thronging strngglers ; its light length 



Vields to the overbearing weight, and all 



Share the same ruin. Here, another shows 



Crueller contest, where the crew hack off 



The hands that hang for life upon its side, 



Lest all togf'thcr perish ; then, in vain 



The voice of friend or kinsman prays for mercy ; 



Imperious self controls all other thoughts ;! 



And still they deal around unnatural wounds. 



When the strong bark of Britain over all 



Sails in the path of death. . . God of the lake, 



Tialoc! SAd thou,<0 Aiauh, green- robed Queen ! 



Hew 



