Had stood the brunt of thirty fought campaigns;
He well could vouch the sad romance of wars,
And count the dates of battles by his scars;
For he had served where o’er and o’er again
Britannia’s oriflamme had lit the plain
Of glory—and victorious stamped her name
On Oudenarde’s and Blenheim’s fields of fame.
Nine times in battlefield his blood had streamed,
Yet vivid still his veteran blue eye gleamed;
Full well he bore his knapsack—unoppressed—