Where Rome, with him, saw power and virtue die;
But if ’tis Roman blood that fills thy veins,
Then, son of heroes! think upon thy chains,
And bathe with tears the grave of liberty.
JEU-D’ESPRIT ON THE WORD “BARB.”
[“It was either during the present or a future visit to the same friends,[150] that the jeu-d’esprit was produced which Mrs Hemans used to call her ‘sheet of forgeries’ on the use of the word Barb. A gentleman had requested her to furnish him with some authorities from the old English writers, proving that this term was in use as applied to a steed. She very shortly supplied him with the following imitations, which were written down almost impromptu: the mystification succeeded perfectly, and was not discovered until some time afterwards.”—Memoir, p. 43.]
[150] The family of the late Henry Park, Esq., Wavertree Lodge, near Liverpool.
The warrior donn’d his well-worn garb,
And proudly waved his crest,
He mounted on his jet-black barb,