LXXVIII. Another column also suffer'd much : And here we may remark with the historian, You should but give few cartridges to such Troops as are meant to march with greatest glory on: When matters must be carried by the touch Of the bright bayonet, and they all should hurry on, They sometimes, with a hankering for existence, Keep merely firing at a foolish distance. (1) LXXIX. A junction of the General Meknop's men (Without the General, who had fallen some time Before, being badly seconded just then) Was made at length with those who dared to climb The death-disgorging rampart once again; And though the Turk's resistance was sublime, They took the bastion, which the Seraskier Defended at a price extremely dear.(2) ' (1) "L'autre partie des Kozaks, qu'Orlow commandait, souffrit de la manière la plus cruelle: elle attaqua à maintes reprises, fut souvent repoussée, et perdit les deux tiers de son monde. Et c'est ici le lieu de placer une observation, que nous prenons dans les mémoires qui nous guident; elle fait remarquer combien il est mal vu de donner beaucoup de cartouches aux soldats qui doivent emporter un poste de vive force, et par conséquent où la baïonnette doit principalement agir; ils pensent ne devoir se servir de cette dernière arme, que lorsque les cartouches sont épuisées dans cette persuasion, ils retardent leur marche, et restent plus long-temps exposés au canon et à la mitraille de l'ennemi."— Hist. de la N. R. p. 214.] (2) ["La jonction de la colonne de Meknop - (le général étant mal secondé fut tué)- s'étant effectuée avec celle qui l'avoisinait, ces colonnes attaquèrent un bastion, et éprouvèrent un résistance opiniâtre; mais bientôt des cris de victoire se font entendre de toutes parts, et le bastion est emporté : le séraskier défendait cette partie." — Ibid. p. 214.] LXXX. Juan and Johnson, and some volunteers Among the foremost, offer'd him good quarter, A word which little suits with Seraskiers, Or at least suited not this valiant Tartar. LXXXI. For all the answer to his proposition Was from a pistol-shot that laid him dead;(1) On such occasions: not a single head Was spared;-three thousand Moslems perish'd here, And sixteen bayonets pierced the Seraskier. (2) LXXXII. The city's taken-only part by part And Death is drunk with gore: there's not a street Where fights not to the last some desperate heart For those for whom it soon shall cease to beat. (3) (1) [..." un officier de marine Anglais, veut le faire prisonnier, et reçoit un coup de pistolet qui l'étend roide mort."-Hist. de la N.R. p. 214.] (2) ["Les Russes passent trois mille Turcs au fil de l'épée; seize baïonnettes percent à la fois le séraskier."—Ibid. p. 214.] (3) ["La ville est emportée; l'image de la mort et de la destruction se représente de tous les côtés; le soldat furieux n'écoute plus la voix de ses officiers, il ne respire que le carnage; altéré de sang, tout est indifferent pour lui."—Ibid. p. 214.] Here War forgot his own destructive art LXXXIII. A Russian officer, in martial tread Over a heap of bodies, felt his heel Seized fast, as if 't were by the serpent's head LXXXIV. A dying Moslem, who had felt the foot (That which some ancient Muse or modern wit Named after thee, Achilles) and quite through't He made the teeth meet, nor relinquish'd it Even with his life-for (but they lie) 't is said To the live leg still clung the sever'd head. LXXXV. However this may be, 'tis pretty sure The Russian officer for life was lamed, The regimental surgeon could not cure His patient, and perhaps was to be blamed More than the head of the inveterate foe, Which was cut off, and scarce even then let go. LXXXVI. But then the fact's a fact- and 'tis the part In leaving verse more free from the restriction LXXXVII. The city's taken, but not render'd!—No! LXXXVIII. The bayonet pierces and the sabre cleaves, And groans; and thus the peopled city grieves, LXXXIX. It is an awful topic-but 'tis not My cue for any time to be terrific: For checker'd as is seen our human lot With good, and bad, and worse, alike prolific Too much of one sort would be soporific;— XC. And one good action in the midst of crimes With all their pretty milk-and-water ways, XCI. Upon a taken bastion, where there lay Thousands of slaughter'd men, a yet warm group Of murder'd women, who had found their way To this vain refuge, made the good heart droop |