| Citation |
NYWJ.741.010
9 Feb 1741:22 (375)
VERNON'S ANSWER TO HOSIER'S GHOST.
I.
Hosier! with indignant sorrow,
I have heard thy mournful tale;
And, if heaven permit to-morrow
Hence our warlke fleet shall sail.
O'er these hostile waves, with roaming,
We will urge our bold design,
With the blood of thousands foaming,
For our country's wrongs and thine.
II.
On that day, when each brave fellow,
Who now triumphs here with me,
Storm'd and plunder'd Porto-Bello,
All my thoughts were full of thee.
Thy disast'rous fate alarm'd me;
Fierce thy image glar'd on high,
And with gen'rous ardour warm'd me,
To revenge thy fall, or die.
III.
From their lofty ships, descending,
Through the flood, in firm array,
To the destin'd city bending,
My lov'd sailors work'd their way.
Strait the foe, with horror trembling,
Quits in haste his batter'd walls;
And in accents undissembling,
As he flies, for mercy calls.
IV.
Carthagena, tow'ring wonder,
At the daring deed dismay'd,
Shall e'erlong by Britain's thunder,
Smoaking in the dust be laid.
Thou, and these pale spectres sweeping,
Restless, o'er this watry round,
Whose wan cheeks are stain'd with weeping
Pleas'd shall listen to the sound.
V.
Still rememb'ring thy sad story.
To thy injur'd Ghost I swear,
By my hopes of future glory,
War shall be my constant care:
And I ne'er will cease pursuing,
Spain's proud sons from sea to sea,
With just vengeance for thy ruin,
And for England `sham'd in thee.
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