FEW have been better, braver none have been,
Than Nelson: iron were his will and power
With man, with woman flexible as gold.
Who are the twain aside him who support
His steps? Two greater even than himself,
More virtuous, nor less valiant. Years and years
This toil’d upon the waves, nor rested he
His weary feet on his domestic hearth,
Nor felt the embraces of a tender brood
Or wife the cherisht of his youthful days:
And that, with countenance as firmly mild,
Shared nearly the same lot; but more than once
He claspt his blooming offspring to his breast
Then sprang afloat.
Our annals may record
Actions more glorious than whatever shone
On other lands and other seas: not Blake’s,
Not even Blake’s, inspired by God himself,
Displayed more active, more intrepid skill,
More calm decision than was thine, Pellew!
Deliverer of all nations that the world
Bemoan’d as helpless, hopeless, in Algiers.
France came and strode across the shattered walls
And waved her flag above them, and stil waves,
Regardless of her vows: but when were oaths
Regarded by her? even with herself?
The Frank of old was free in wood and swamp,
The Arab in his desert: now alike
They share the chain; one proud to see it shine,
The other biting it with frantic tooth
Til burnt alive for such fierce contumacy.