[ 15 ]
Their savage genius, giant-like and blind,
Trampling with sullen joy on human kind,
Assyria lay its own uncover'd grave,
And Gallia trembled to th' Atlantic wave:
In awful waste the fairest cities moan'd,
And human Liberty expiring groan'd
When Chivalry arose:—Her ardent eye
Sublime, that fondly mingled with the sky,
Where patience watch'd, and stedfast purpose frown'd,
Mixt with Devotion's fire, the darted round,
Stern and indignant; on her glittering shield
The Cross she bore, and proudly to the field
High plumed she rush'd; by Honour's dazzling fired,
Conscious of Heaven's own cause, and all inspired
By holy vows, as on the frowning tower
The lightning vollies, on the crested power
Of Sarazen she wing'd her javelin's way,
And the wide-wasting giant prostrate lay.
Let
