Epigraph
“Think of that age’s awful birth,
When Europe echoed, terror-riven,
That a new foot was on the earth,
And a new name come down from Heaven
When over Calpe’s straits and steeps
The Moor had bridged his royal road,
And Othman’s sons from Asia’s deeps
The conquests of the Cross o’erflowed.
“Think with what passionate delight
The tale was told in Christian halls,
How Sobieski turned to flight
The Muslim from Vienna’s walls;
How, when his horse triumphant trod
The burghers’ richest robes upon,
The ancient words rose loud, ‘From God
A man was sent whose name was John.’”
Lord Houghton.