Wherever Mars his crimson flag display'd,
That was my country, thither swift I bore
My ready valour, and the dauntless band
Of various nations, under my command,
Prepar'd to sell their blood, their limbs, their lives:
Nor where the right, nor where the justest cause,
Deign'd we to ask — those intricate debates
We left to lazy penmen in the shade
Of coward ease; while our impetuous fire
Still bore us forward, ardent to pursue
Thro' danger's roughest paths the steps to fame.
On such a spirit should thy favour smile.