Sonnet to Britain.
by the d--- of w---
Halt! Shoulder arms! Recover! As you were!
Right wheel! Eyes left! Attention! Stand at ease!
O Britain! O my country! Words like these
Have made thy name a terror and a fear
To all the nations. Witness Ebro’s banks,
Assaye, Toulouse, Nivelle, and Waterloo,
Where the grim despot muttered—Sauve qui peut!
And Ney fled darkling.—Silence in the ranks!
Inspired by these, amidst the iron crash
Of armies, in the centre of his troop
The soldier stands—unmoveable, not rash—
Until the forces of the foeman droop;
Then knocks the Frenchmen to eternal smash,
Pounding them into mummy. Shoulder, hoop!
the end.
printed by william blackwood and sons.
NOTES.
[vii] Prologue de premiere livre.
[ix] A fact. That such a subject for cathedral chimes, and in Scotland, too, could ever have been chosen, will scarcely be believed. But my astonished ears often heard it.
[7] W. Gomersal, for many years a leading actor and rider at Astley’s Amphitheatre.