XVIII.

The youth looked up: by outward posts defended And star-redoubts he saw the Bayonnette; The Commissari with that mountain blended Was girt with abatís incessant met. He thought those bulwarks would be England’s yet! A gulf profound with skirmishers was filled, And thickest woods where marksmen keen were set. Rugged the path where Spain her hope must build, With turns abrupt where men by striplings might be killed.