Out leap'd the sword; and armies met; and brother Oppos'd himself to brother's instrument
Of death! and fields with civil blood were cover'd,
And fortunes fell, and gallant heroes died;
And law was overturn'd, and blessed Arts
Cover'd their heads and hands, and clos'd their voices.
And thou, divinest Poesy, e'en thou
Fledst the domains, where Heaven had begun
To breathe her accents from the lyre, and He,
The Bard of Paradise, in Ludlow's Castle,
Or Harefield's Halls, had just begun to open
Strains of a tone ne'er yet in Albion sounded.
Then the all-virtuous, and all-eloquent,
All-learned Falkland fell at Newbury,
Already sunk in sorrow for the times,
And daring death in midst of hostile swords!
Then thou from whom the stream of blood I draw,
That circuits thro my veins, O beautiful
And gallant Mainwaring, didst nobly die
On Chester walls, and to an ancient name
Didst leave no scion male! and still I hold
The Garter, signal of thy loyalty,
Cut from the monarch's shoulder, and in need
Giv'n to thy widow as a future pledge!
But many a battle still was to be fought,-
And still, when Newbury's disastrous doom
Could not be chang'd, rested the conflict's issue
·Between a gallant monarch and a people,
Who, when awaken'd to the war, would never
Leave liberty's broad banner in the dust!