The New Hampshire Gazette

To the MEMORY of BARON TRENCK.

IMMORTAL Trenck! the glory of thy kind!
Born to instruct, inspire, and awe, mankind!
What eye thy mighty sufferings can peruse,
Nor tears of sympathy that eye suffuse?
Ponder the cruel wrongs thou did'st sustain,
Nor indignation boil in ev'ry vein?
Thy manly, godlike, fortitude behold.
And from those brows the martyr's crown withhold?
Thy dauntless valour contemplate, thy zeal,
And not accumulated courage feel?
Thy justice, candor, moderation, can,
Nor glory in the dignity of man?
As I revolve thy various turns of fate,
What struggling passions in this breast debate?
Love, pity, admiration, take their turn,
Then horror, and vindictive vengeance burn.
What unheard tortures! (to my soul I sigh)
What unexampled magnanimity!
What mean suspicions! base ingratitude!
What manly pride! what dauntless fortitude!
See the great hero drag his dungeon-chain,
The blood fast trickling from the pouting vein.
I feel life's current from its channels swerve,
While keen vibrations rack each tortur'd nerve!
Exalted suff'rer! thou hast charm'd a world,
When thrones, and sceptres, are in ruins hurl'd
And their proud owners, mouldered, and forgot,
They, and their hated memories shall rot.
From thee shall suff'ring virtue feel new springs,
Rise with recruited strength, and prune her wings.
And vice, o'eraw'd, beneath thy potent spell,
Sink down affrighted to her native hell.
Thy sorrows, and thy triumphs, leave behind
An everlasting lesson to mankind.
The pageantry of courts, each fool and knave,
The cruel despot, and the cringing slave,
The judge suborn'd, th ungrateful, treach'rous friend,
The fawning parasite, and subtle fiend,
The lurking spy, each harpy of the gown,
The vengeful levite, and the rev'rend drone,
Priests, priestlings, priestcraft, melt beneath thy frown.
Thee, youth shall study, fir'd with thoughts sublime,
And the steep paths of honour learn to climb.
The cheerless captive learn from thee to bear,
And, taught by thy example, scorn despair.
Thy race, the guardian-care of providence,
Shall live in honour, crown'd with innocence.
And those just rights, proud despots thee denied
In even-fold blessings on their heads abide,
To teach base miscreants, virtue's not meer name,
But surest passport to immortal fame.
Unrival'd Trenck! thy country's boast & pride!
In complicated scenes of mis'ry try'd!
In glory's sphere, thy consecrated name,
Transcends all Roman, Macedonian, fame.
Around thy laurel'd tomb the muses weep,
Nymphs, heroes, ages, solemn vigils keep—
Whilst thou above in some distinguish'd seat,
Seest Prussia's sov'reign far beneath thy feet.
And Robespierre, to make thy ghost amends,
Howls in the lowest dungeon of the fiends.
Whilst thou in bliss (no tyrants to annoy)
With Hebe quaff'st uninterrupted joy.
And some illustrious bard of future days
By thy great name inspir'd, shall tune the lays,
And grow immortal, in thy deathless praise.