London.
THE INVASION OF BRITAIN.
(Not by Julius Cæsar.)
A great many correspondents of the daily press are directing the attention, I suppose, of the Government to what they call the "defenceless state of Great Britain." Will you allow me, on account, as I think, of its rarity, to submit to you the following extract from the Macaronéa, par Octave Delepierre (Gancia, Brighton, 1852), attributed to Porson. The lines were composed on occasion of the projected French invasion under Napoleon.
"LINGO DRAWN FOR THE MILITIA.
"Ego nunquam audivi such terrible news,
At this present tempus my sensus confuse;
I'm drawn for a miles,—I must go cum marte,
And, concinus ense,—engage Bonaparte.
"Such tempora nunquam videbant majores,
For then their opponents had different mores;