The labouring and way-worn feet along, And make their toil less toilsome. Half way up, Or nearer to the top, behold a cot,. O'er which the branchy trees, those sycamores, Wave gently at their roots a rustic bench Invites to short refreshment, and to taste What grateful beverage the house may yield After fatigue, or dusty heat; thence call'd The TRAVELLER'S REST. Welcome, embower'd seat, Friendly repose to the slow passenger Ascending, ere he takes his sultry way Along th' interminable road, stretch'd out Over th' unshelter'd down; or when at last He has that hard and solitary path Measured by painful steps. And blest are they, Who in life's toilsome journey may make pause After a march of glory: yet not such As rise in causeless war, troubling the world By their mad quarrel, and in fields of blood Hail'd victors, thence renown'd, and call'd on earth Kings, heroes, demi-gods, but in high Heaven Thieves, ruffians, murderers; these find no repose: Thee rather, patriot Conqueror, to thee Belongs such rest; who in the western world, Hast planted an immortal grove, and there, Upon the glorious mount of Liberty Reposing, sit'st beneath the palmy shade. And Thou, not less renown'd in like attempt Of high achievement, though thy virtue fail'd To save thy little country, Patriot Prince, Who wisely chose thee, PAOLI, to bless Thy native Isle, long struggling to be free? After thy glorious toil, secure of fame Well-earn'd by virtue: while ambitious France, Who stretch'd her lawless hand to seize thine isle, Gorged but not satisfied, and craving still Plying her monstrous labour unrestrained ! A rank of castles in the rough sea sunk, With towery shape and height, and armed heads Uprising o'er the surge; and these between, Unmeasurable mass of ponderous rock Projected many a mile to rear her wall Midst the deep waters. She, the mighty work Still urging, in her arrogant attempt, As with a lordly voice to the Ocean cries, 'Hitherto come, no farther; here be staid A The raging of thy waves; within this bound Be all my haven'-and therewith takes in space of amplest circuit, wide and deep, Won from the straiten'd main: nor less in strength Than in dimensions, giant-like in both,— On each side flank'd with citadels and towers And rocky walls, and arches massy proof Against the storm of war. Compared with this Less, and less hazardous emprize achieved Resistless Alexander, when he cast The strong foundations of that high-raised mound Deep in the hostile waves, his martial way, Built on before him up to sea-girt Tyre. Nor aught so bold, so vast, so wonderful, At Athos or the fetter'd Hellespont, Imagined in his pride that Asian vain, Xerxes, but ere he turn'd from Salamis Flying through the blood-red waves in one poor bark, |