162
ALBANIA;
Blind with revenge, nor mindful of her end,
Though near; for now her neck the hissing ball
Hath pierc'd, from well-aimed musket shot unseen.
In vain, alas! thou homeward hastest back;
Mad to have risked thy life with artful man,
On land, to the strange element, where now
Thou agonising liest a monument
For others not to dare their sphere beyond:
While children, from their flight returning, gaze
And wonder at the shaggy monster's form. 120
But now the thronging peasants share the flesh,
From which, for nightly lamps, they drain the oil;
Though utmost Thule's long liv'd sons reserve,
For winter meals, such unluxurious fare.
Thus, Caledonia! thee rich ocean courts,
Presenting his most useful gifts to thee;
But thou secure, a land of yellow grain,
Grain! which bleak Norway wooes with all her firs;
And inly full of glory overprized,
The main sea rough and hoar, disdainest coy; 130
Unenvied, while the Belgian still purloins
The treasures vowed to thee, and of thy sloth
Full glad, in many a pitchy keel, bears off
To distant shores, these more than orient pearls;
Though near; for now her neck the hissing ball
Hath pierc'd, from well-aimed musket shot unseen.
In vain, alas! thou homeward hastest back;
Mad to have risked thy life with artful man,
On land, to the strange element, where now
Thou agonising liest a monument
For others not to dare their sphere beyond:
While children, from their flight returning, gaze
And wonder at the shaggy monster's form. 120
But now the thronging peasants share the flesh,
From which, for nightly lamps, they drain the oil;
Though utmost Thule's long liv'd sons reserve,
For winter meals, such unluxurious fare.
Thus, Caledonia! thee rich ocean courts,
Presenting his most useful gifts to thee;
But thou secure, a land of yellow grain,
Grain! which bleak Norway wooes with all her firs;
And inly full of glory overprized,
The main sea rough and hoar, disdainest coy; 130
Unenvied, while the Belgian still purloins
The treasures vowed to thee, and of thy sloth
Full glad, in many a pitchy keel, bears off
To distant shores, these more than orient pearls;
