Socrates said, our only knowledge was

«To know that nothing could be known;» a pleasant Science enough, which levels to an ass

Each man of wisdom, future, past, or present.
Newton (that proverb of the mind), alas!
Declared, with all his grand discoveries recent,
That he himself felt only like a youth
Picking up

shells by the great ocean-truth.»>
VI

Ecclesiastes said, that all is vanity

Most modern preachers say the same, or show it By their examples of true Christianity;

In short, all know, or very soon may know it. And in this scene of all-confess'd inanity,

By saint, by sage, by preacher, and by poet, Must I restrain me, through the fear of strife, From holding up the nothingness of life?

VII.

Dogs, or men! (for I flatter you in saying
That ye are dogs-your betters far) ye may
Read, or read not, what I am now essaying
To show ye what ye are in every way.
As little as the moon stops for the baying

Of wolves, will the bright Muse withdraw one ray From out her skies:-then howl your idle wrath! While she still silvers o'er your gloomy path.

VIII.

« Fierce loves and faithless wars»-I am not sure
If this be the right reading-'t is no matter;
The fact's about the same; I am secure;-
I sing them both, and am about to batter
A town which did a famous siege endure,
And was beleaguer d both by land and water
By Suvaroff, or anglicè Suwarrow,

Who loved blood as an alderman loves marrow.

IX.

The fortress is call'd Ismail, and is placed
Upon the Danube's left branch and left bank,
With buildings in the oriental taste,

But still a fortress of the foremost rank;
Or was, at least, unless 'tis since defaced,

Which with your conquerors is a common prank: It stands some eighty versts from the high sea, And measures round of toises thousands three. X.

Within the extent of this fortification

A borough is comprised, along the height
Upon the left, which, from its loftier station,
Commands the city, and upon its site

A Greek had raised around this elevation
A quantity of palisades upright,

So placed as to impede the fire of those
Who held the place, and to assist the foe's.
XI..

This circumstance may serve to give a notion
Of the high talents of this new Vauban :
But the town ditch below was deep as ocean,

The rampart higher than you'd wish to hang:
But then there was a great want of precaution
(Prithee, excuse this engineering slang),
Nor work advanced, nor cover'd-way was there,
To hint, at least, « Here is no thoroughfare. >>
XII.

But a stone bastion, with a narrow gorge,

And walls as thick as most sculls born as yet;
Two batteries, cap-à-pié, as our Saint George,
Case-mated one, and t'other « à barbette,»>
Of Danube's bank took formidable charge;
While two-and-twenty cannon, duly set,
Rose o'er the town's right side, in bristling tier,
Forty feet high, upon a cavalier.

XIII.

But from the river the town's open quite,
Because the Turks could never be persuaded
A Russian vessel e'er would heave in sight;
And such their creed was, till they were invaded,
When it grew rather late to set things right.

But as the Danube could not well be waded,

They look'd upon the Muscovite flotilla,
And only shouted, « Alla!» and « Bis Millah!»
XIV.

The Russians now were ready to attack;

But oh, ye goddesses of war and glory! How shall I spell the name of each Cossack Who were immortal, could one tell their story? Alas! what to their memory can lack?

Achilles self was not more grim and gory Than thousands of this new and polish'd nation, Whose names want nothing but-pronunciation.

XV.

Still I'll record a few, if but to increase

Our euphony-there was Strongenoff, and Strokonoff, Meknop, Serge Lwdw, Arseniew of modern Greece, And Tschitsshakoff, and Roguenoff, and Chokenoff, And others of twelve consonants a piece:

And more might be found out, if I could poke enough Into gazettes; but fame (capricious strumpet!) It seems has got an ear as well as trumpet,

XVI.

And cannot tune those discords of narration,
Which may be names at Moscow, into rhyme.
Yet there were several worth commemoration,
As e'er was virgin of a nuptial chime;
Soft words too, fitted for the peroration

Of Londonderry, drawling against time,

XXIII.

The Russians, having built two batteries on
An isle near Ismail, had two ends in view;
The first was to bombard it, and knock down
The public buildings, and the private too,
No matter what poor souls might be undone.
The city's shape suggested this, 't is true;

Presented a fine mark to throw a shell in.
XXIV.

The second object was to profit by

The moment of the general consternation, To attack the Turk's flotilla, which lay nigh, Extremely tranquil, anchor'd at its station: But a third motive was as probably

To frighten them into capitulation;

A phantasy which sometimes seizes warriors, Unless they are game as bull-dogs and fox-terriers.

XXV.

A habit rather blameable, which is

That of despising those we combat with, Common in many cases, was in this

The cause of killing Tehitchitzkoff and Smith; One of the valorous «Smiths» whom we shall miss Out of those nineteen who late rhymed to « pith ̧= But 't is a name so spread o'er «Sir» and « Madam,» That one would think the FIRST who bore it « ADAM

XXVI.

The Russian batteries were incomplete,

Because they were constructed in a hurry. Thus, the same cause which makes a verse want feet. And throws a cloud o'er Longman and John Murczy When the sale of new books is not so fleet

As they who print them think is necessary,
May likewise put off for a time what story
Sometimes calls « murder,» and at others « glory,»
XXVII.

Whether it was their engineers' stupidity,
Their haste, or waste, I neither know nor care,
Or some contractor's personal cupidity,

Saving his soul by cheating in the ware
Of homicide; but there was no solidity
In the new batteries erected there;
They either miss'd, or they were never miss'd,
And added greatly to the missing list.

XXVIII.

A sad miscalculation about distance

Made all their naval matters incorrect;
Three fire-ships lost their amiable existence
Before they reach'd a spot to take effect;
The match was lit too soon, and no assistance
Could remedy this lubberly defect;

They blew up in the middle of the river,
While, though 't was dawn, the Turks slept fast as ev

XXIX.

At seven they rose, however, and survey'd
The Russ flotilla getting under way;

T was nine, when still advancing undismay'd,
Within a cable's length their vessels lay
Off Ismail, and commenced a cannonade,

Which was return'd with interest, I may say,
And by a fire of musketry and grasse,
And shells and shot of every size and shape.

XXX.

For six hours bore they without intermission
The Turkish fire; and, aided by their own
Land batteries, work'd their guns with great precision:
At length they found mere cannonade alone
By no means would produce the town's submission,
And made a signal to retreat at one.

One bark blew up; a second, near the works
Running aground, was taken by the Turks.
XXXI.

The Moslem too had lost both ships and men;
But when they saw the enemy retire,
Their Delhis mann'd some boats, and sail'd again,
And gall'd the Russians with a heavy fire,
And tried to make a landing on the main.

But here the effect fell short of their desire:
Count Damas drove them back into the water
Pell-mell, and with a whole gazette of slaughter.

XXXII.

« If» (says the historian here) « I could report All that the Russians did upon this day,

I think that several volumes would fall short, And I should still have many things to say ;» And so he says no more-but pays his court

To some distinguish'd strangers in that fray, The Prince de Ligne, and Langeron, and Damas, Names great as any that the roll of fame has. XXXIII

This being the case, may show us what fame is: For out of three « preux chevaliers,» how Many of common readers give a guess

That such existed? (and they may live now For ought we know.) Renown's all hit or miss; There's fortune even in fame, we must allow. 'Tis true the Memoirs of the Prince de Ligne Have half withdrawn from him oblivion's screen.

XXXIV.

But here are men who fought in gallant actions
As gallantly as ever heroes fought,
But buried in the heap of such transactions--

Their names are seldom found, nor often sought.
Thus even good fame may suffer sad contractions,
And is extinguished sooner than she ought:
Of all our modern battles, I will bet
You can't repeat nine names from each gazette.
XXXV.

In short, this last attack, though rich in glory,
Show'd that somewhere, somehow, there was a fault;
And Admiral Ribas (known in Russian story)
Most strongly recommended an assault;
In which he was opposed by young and hoary,
Which made a long debate:-but I must halt;
For if I wrote down every warrior's speech,

I doubt few readers e'er would mount the breach.

XXXVI.

There was a man, if that he was a man,-

Not that his manhood could be called in question, For, had he not been Hercules, his span

Bad been as short in youth as indigestion Made his last illness, when, all worn and wan, He died beneath a tree, as much unbless'd on The soil of the green province he had wasted, As e'er was locust on the land it blasted;—

XXXVII.

This was Potemkin-a great thing in days
When homicide and harlotry made great,
If stars and titles could entail long praise,
His glory might half equal his estate.
This fellow, being six foot high, could raise
A kind of phantasy proportionate

In the then sovereign of the Russian people,
Who measured men as you would do a steeple.
XXXVIII.

While things were in abeyance, Ribas sent
A courier to the prince, and he succeeded
In ordering matters after his own bent.

I cannot tell the way in which he pleaded,
But shortly he had cause to be content.

In the mean time the batteries proceeded, And fourscore cannon on the Danube's border Were briskly fired, and answer'd in due order. XXXIX.

But on the thirteenth, when already part

Of the troops were embark'd, the siege to raise, A courier on the spur inspired new heart Into all panters for newspaper praise, As well as dilettanti in war's art,

By his dispatches couch'd in pithy phrase, Announcing the appointment of that lover of Battles to the command, Field-Marshal Suvaroff.

XL.

The letter of the prince to the same marshal
Was worthy of a Spartan, had the cause
Been one to which a good heart could be partial,—
Defence of freedom, country, or of laws;
But as it was mere lust of
power to o'er-arch all
With his proud brow, it merits slight applause,
Save for its style, which said, all in a trice,
«You will take Ismail, at whatever price.»

XLI.

«Let there be light!» said God, and there was light!» «Let there be blood!» says man, and there's a sea! The fiat of this spoil'd child of the night

(For day ne'er saw his merits) could decree More evil in an hour, than thirty bright

Summers could renovate, though they should be
Lovely as those which ripen'd Eden's fruit-
For war cuts up not only branch but root.

XLII.

Our friends the Turks, who with loud « Allas» now
Began to signalize the Russ retreat,
Were damnably mistaken; few are slow
In thinking that their enemy is beat
(Or beaten, if you insist on grammar, though
I never think about it in a heat);

But here I say the Turks were much mistaken,
Who, hating hogs, yet wish'd to save their bacon.
XLIII.

For, on the sixteenth, at full gallop drew

In sight two horsemen, who were deem'd Cossacks For some time, till they came in nearer view.

They had but little baggage at their backs,
For there were but three shirts between the two;
But on they rode upon two Ukraine hacks,
Till, in approaching, were at length descried
In this plain pair, Suwarrow and his guide.

LVIII.
Suwarrow, who was standing in his shirt,

Before a company of Calmucks, drilling,
Exclaiming, fooling, swearing at the inert,

And lecturing on the noble art of killing,For, deeming human clay but common dirt, This great philosopher was thus instilling His maxims, which, to martial comprehension, Proved death in battle equal to a pension;LIX.

Suwarrow, when he saw this company

Of Cossacks and their prey, turn'd round and cast Upon them his slow brow and piercing eye:<< Whence come ye?»-« From Constantinople last, Captives just now escaped,» was the reply.

What are ye?»-« What you see us.» Briefly past This dialogue; for he who answer'd knew To whom he spoke, and made his words but few.

LX.

Your names?»-« Mine 's Johnson, and my comrade's Juan;

The other two are women, and the third

Is neither man nor woman.» The chief threw on
The party a slight glance, then said: « I have heard
Your name before, the second is a new one;

To bring the other three here was absurd;
But let that pass;—I think I've heard your name
In the Nikolaiew regiment?»-« The same.»-
LXI.

«You served at Widin?»-«Yes.»-«You led the attack? »
<«< I did.»—«What next?»-«<l really hardly know.»
You were the first i' the breach?»-«I was not slack,
At least, to follow those who might be so.»-
L What follow'd?»-« A shot laid me on my back,
And I became a prisoner to the foe.»-

« You shall have vengeance, for the town surrounded Is twice as strong as that where you were wounded.

"

He with the beardless chin and garments torn.»>— Why, general, if he hath no greater fault

In war than love, he had better lead the assault. »>LXIII.

« He shall, if that he dare.» Here Juan bow'd Low as the compliment deserved. Suwarrow Continued: «Your old regiment 's allow'd,

By special providence, to lead to-morrow, Or it may be to-night, the assault : I've vow'd To several saints, that shortly plough or harrow Shall pass o'er what was Ismail, and its tusk Be unimpeded by the proudest mosque.

LXIV.

« So now, my lads, for glory!»-Here he turn'd, And drill'd away in the most classic Russian, Until each high, heroic bosom burn'd

For cash and conquest, as if from a cushion

A preacher had held forth (who nobly spurn'd

All earthly goods save tithes) and bade them push on

To slay the Pagans who resisted, battering
The armies of the Christian Empress Catherine.

Right! I was busy, and forgot. Why, you
Will join your former regiment, which should be
Now under arms. Ho! Katskoff, take him to-
(Here he call'd up a Polish orderly)—
His post, I mean the regiment Nikolaiew.

The stranger stripling may remain with me;
He's a fine boy. The women may be sent
To the other baggage, or to the sick tent.»>
LXVII.

But here a sort of scene began to ensue :
The ladies, who by no means had been bred
To be disposed of in a way so new,

Although their harem education led
Doubtless to that of doctrines the most true,

Passive obedience, now raised up the head,
With flashing eyes and starting tears, and flung
Their arms, as hens their wings about their young,
LXVIII.

O'er the promoted couple of brave men

Who were thus honour'd by the greatest chief
That ever peopled hell with heroes slain,

Or plunged a province or a realm in grief.
Oh, foolish mortals! always taught in vain!
Oh, glorious laurel! since for one sole leaf
Of thine imaginary deathless tree,
Of blood and tears must flow the unebbing sea!
LXIX.

Suwarrow, who had small regard for tears,

And not much sympathy for blood, survey'd The women with their hair about their ears And natural agonies with a slight shade

Of feeling: for, however habit sears

Men's hearts against whole millions, when their trade

Is butchery, sometimes a single sorrow
Will touch even heroes-and such was Suwarrow.

LXX.

He said-and in the kindest Calmuck tone

Why, Johnson, what the devil do you mean By bringing women here? They shall be shown All the attention possible, and seen

In safety to the waggons, where alone

In fact they can be safe. You should have been
Aware this kind of baggage never thrives:
Save wed a year, I hate recruits with wives.»>
LXXI.

«May it please your excellency,» thus replied

Our British friend, « these are the wives of others, And not our own. I am too qualified

By service with my military brothers,

To break the rules by bringing one's own bride
Into a camp; I know that nought so bothers
The hearts of the heroic on a charge,
As leaving a small family at large.