No city on the many-peopled earth
Hath been the witness of such valiant deeds
As thou hast, Ptolemais! and by whom
Were they achieved? by Britons, one and all.
The first our lion-hearted king may claim,
And who the second? he who drove across
The torrid desert the (till then uncheckt)
Invader, from those realms the Ptolemies
Ruled, and the Cæsars follow’d in their train,
Sidney the last of chivalry.. One more
Rode o’er the sea to win the crown that hung
Inviting on thy walls: he also bore
A name illustrious even as Sidney’s own,
Napier was he.
’Tis somewhat to have held
His hand in mine, ’tis somewhat to record
One of his actions in the crowded page.