An "ignis fatuus;" or as sailors stranded

Unto the nearest hut themselves betake; So Juan, following honour and his nose,

Rush'd where the thickest fire announced most foes. (1)

XXXIII.

He knew not where he was, nor greatly cared,
For he was dizzy, busy, and his veins
Fill'd as with lightning-for his spirit shared

The hour, as is the case with lively brains;
And where the hottest fire was seen and heard,

And the loud cannon peal'd his hoarsest strains, He rush'd, while earth and air were sadly shaken By thy humane discovery, Friar Bacon! (2)

XXXIV.

And as he rush'd along, it came to pass he
Fell in with what was late the second column,
Under the orders of the General Lascy,

But now reduced, as is a bulky volume
Into an elegant extract (much less massy)

Of heroism, and took his place with solemn Air 'midst the rest, who kept their valiant faces And levell'd weapons still against the glacis.

(1) [" N'appercevant plus le commandant du corps dont je faisais partie, et ignorant où je devais porter mes pas, je crus reconnoître le lieu où le rempart était situé; on y faisait un feu assez vif, que je jugeai être celui du général-major de Lascy."-Hist. de la N. R. p. 210.]

(2) Gunpowder is said to have been discovered by this friar. [N. B. Though Friar Bacon seems to have discovered gunpowder, he had the humanity not to record his discovery in intelligible language. — E.]

VOL. XVI.

XXXV.

Just at this crisis up came Johnson too,

Who had "retreated," as the phrase is when
Men run away much rather than go through
Destruction's jaws into the devil's den;
But Johnson was a clever fellow, who

Knew when and how "to cut and come again,"
And never ran away, except when running
Was nothing but a valorous kind of cunning.

XXXVI.

And so, when all his corps were dead or dying,
Except Don Juan, a mere novice, whose
More virgin valour never dreamt of flying,
From ignorance of danger, which indues
Its votaries, like innocence relying

[thews,

On its own strength, with careless nerves and Johnson retired a little, just to rally

Those who catch cold in "shadows of Death's valley."

XXXVII.

And there, a little shelter'd from the shot,
Which rain'd from bastion, battery, parapet,
Rampart, wall, casement, house-for there was not
In this extensive city, sore beset

By Christian soldiery, a single spot

Which did not combat like the devil, as yet,He found a number of Chasseurs, all scatter'd By the resistance of the chase they batter❜d.

XXXVIII.

And these he call'd on; and, what's strange, they came
Unto his call, unlike "the spirits from
The vasty deep," to whom you may exclaim,

Says Hotspur, long ere they will leave their Their reasons were uncertainty, or shame [home.(1) At shrinking from a bullet or a bomb,

And that odd impulse, which in wars or creeds
Makes men, like cattle, follow him who leads.

XXXIX.

By Jove! he was a noble fellow, Johnson,

And though his name, than Ajax or Achilles, Sounds less harmonious, underneath the sun soon We shall not see his likeness: he could kill his Man quite as quietly as blows the monsoon

Her steady breath (which some months the same still is):

Seldom he varied feature, hue, or muscle,

And could be very busy without bustle;

XL.

And therefore, when he ran away, he did so
Upon reflection, knowing that behind

He would find others who would fain be rid so
Of idle apprehensions, which like wind
Trouble heroic stomachs. Though their lids so
Oft are soon closed, all heroes are not blind,
But when they light upon immediate death,
Retire a little, merely to take breath.

(1) [Glendower. "I can call spirits from the vasty deep.
Hotspur. Why so can I, or so can any man:
But will they come when you do call for them?"-
Henry IV.]

XLI.

But Johnson only ran off, to return

With many other warriors, as we said,
Unto that rather somewhat misty bourn,
Which Hamlet tells us is a pass of dread.(1)
To Jack howe'er this gave but slight concern:
His soul (like galvanism upon the dead)
Acted upon the living as on wire,

And led them back into the heaviest fire.

XLII.

Egad! they found the second time what they
The first time thought quite terrible enough
To fly from, malgré all which people say
Of glory, and all that immortal stuff

Which fills a regiment (besides their pay,

That daily shilling which makes warriors tough) — They found on their return the self-same welcome, Which made some think, and others know, a hell come.

XLIII.

They fell as thick as harvests beneath hail,

Grass before scythes, or corn below the sickle, Proving that trite old truth, that life's as frail As any other boon for which men stickle. The Turkish batteries thrash'd them like a flail Or a good boxer, into a sad pickle Putting the very bravest, who were knock'd Upon the head, before their guns were cock'd.

(1)

["the dread of something after death,

The undiscover'd country, from whose bourn

No traveller returns." - Hamlet.]

XLIV.

The Turks behind the traverses and flanks

Of the next bastion, fired away like devils, And swept, as gales sweep foam away, whole ranks: However, Heaven knows how, the Fate who levels Towns, nations, worlds, in her revolving pranks, So order'd it, amidst these sulphury revels, That Johnson and some few who had not scamper'd, Reach'd the interior talus (1) of the rampart. (2)

XLV.

First one or two, then five, six, and a dozen
Came mounting quickly up, for it was now
All neck or nothing, as, like pitch or rosin,

Flame was shower'd forth above, as well's below,
So that you scarce could say who best had chosen,
The gentlemen that were the first to show
Their martial faces on the parapet,

Or those who thought it brave to wait as yet.

XLVI.

But those who scaled, found out that their advance.
Was favour'd by an accident or blunder:

The Greek or Turkish Cohorn's ignorance
Had pallisado'd in a way you'd wonder

(1) ["Talus, the slope or inclination of a wall, whereby, reclining at the top so as to fall within its base, the thickness is gradually lessened according to the height.” — Milit. Dict.]

(2) ["Appellant ceux des chasseurs qui étaient autour de moi en assez grand nombre, je m'avançai et reconnus ne m'être point trompé dans mon calcul; c'était en effet cette colonne qui à l'instant parvenait au sommet du rempart. Les Turcs de derrière les travers et les flancs des bastions voisins faisaient sur elle un feu très-vif de canon et de mousqueterie. Je gravis, avec les gens qui m'avaient suivi, le talus intérieur du rempart." — Hist, de la N, R. p. 211.]