Series 1 > Grameid: an heroic poem descriptive of the campaign of Viscount Dundee in 1689, and other pieces

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PANURGI PHILOCABALLI
[44-67
Imperii decor ille ingens Jacobus aviti,
Atque leonigeri soboles generosa Stuarti,
Tempora Di1 coeptis et si satis aequa dedissent,
Felicis fratris non infelicior haeres
Septimus, infando fugitivi militis ausu
Missus in exilium, longinqui littora ponti
Classe petit, terrasque alio sub sole calentes.
Qui simulac patriis abiit depulsus ab oris,
Quern dedit immanem scelerata Batavia Regem,
Legibus invitis, male gratum hominique Deoque
Accipiunt, monstrumque locant in sede suprema.
Sic Fergusiadum Domus alta rapacibus ultro
Praeda jacet Batavis, ruit et civilibus armis
Albion infelix; nec quisquam insurgere contra
Pro Rege, et patriae pro libertate tuenda,
Audet, inhumano neve arma inferre Tyranno,
Bellica sanguinei nec tollere signa Gradivi.
Ecce autem mediis bellorum in motibus, ingens
Dum stupor iste tenet procerum mentesque manusque,
Et premit atra polum nox pulso sole Britannum,
Montrosio novus exoritur de pulvere phoenix,
Virtutis simul, et patrii cognominis haeres
Illius ad Varium cecidit qui Marte Sacellum,
Gramus, hyperborei decus et fax unica Scoti 3
James vn., that great ornament of the hereditary throne, the
noble offspring of the lion-bearing Stuarts, the heir of his fortu¬
nate brother, himself no less fortunate, had the gods but given
time to his undertakings, seeks as an exile (through the vile con¬
duct of his treacherous army) the distant shores of ocean, and
lands warming under another sun.2 As soon as he had departed,
driven from the paternal shores, they welcome and place on the
throne a fierce King, hated alike by gods and men, a monster
from Batavia. Thus the lofty house of Fergus becomes the prey
of the rapacious Dutchmen, and unhappy Albion sinks in civil
strife. For the exiled King no man dares to rise against the
inhuman tyrant, nor yet for fatherland or liberty does any man
unfurl the ruddy banner of Mars. But lo ! while stupor of hand
and mind holds the nobles, while dark night o’erspreads the sky
of Britain, her sun having fled, lo ! the Graham as a new Phoenix
rises from the ashes of Montrose, the heir alike of the valour and
1 Var. lect. Dii. 3 ‘ Classe ’ is a bold licence for a single frigate.
3 See Preface as to author’s prosody.