Page:Scotish Descriptive Poems - Leyden (1803).djvu/118

 Dear parent stream! may still thy happy plains
Rejoice in peace, and plenty bless thy swains;
May still thy daughters charm with every grace
Of mind, of manners, figure, air and face;
Still may thy fleets, by hardy seamen manned,
Extend fair Albion's sway from land to land;
As lately Phœbus, in his spacious round,
Saw, in each clime, our hosts with conquest crowned.
In vain proud Gallia poured her legions forth,
To match the iron warriors of the North: 600
The German plains were fattened with her blood,
Her commerce ruined, and her fleets subdued.
Her heroes slain, she trembles as she boasts,
While British thunders roar around her coasts.
And veteran Spain, who still the pride displays,
Without the vigour, of her happier days,
Beheld, with terror and amazement filled,
Manilla stormed, and strong Havannah yield:
Shrunk in dismay, where'er her flag unfurled,
Till Britain rose the umpire of the world. 610
 At that bright era, as the festive sound
Of peace, loud echoed earth and ocean round,
Rose from his stream the majesty of Clyde,
His beauteous consort, Dara, by his side;