Iberia Won; A poem descriptive of the Peninsular War / With impressions from recent visits to the battle-grounds, and copious historical and illustrative notes

by T. M. Hughes

Thou giv’st our lyres a theme, that might engage

Those that could send thy name o’er sea and land,

While sea and land shall last; for Homer’s rage

A theme; a theme for Milton’s mighty hand—

How much unmeet for us, a faint degenerate band!

But, while I regard with befitting humility the result of this labour of love, I trust that the spirit in which I have conceived and written has at least been pure and irreproachable.

It is with feelings of the utmost satisfaction and pride that I notice, contemporaneously with the appearance of this work, the concession of a medal to our Peninsular veterans by the high-minded Sovereign of England, whose propitious name and reign are identified with victory:—

Ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἁ μεγαλώνυμος ἦλθε Νίκα.

Soph. Antig. 148.

Victoria came with mighty name and glory.