Oft help to make bold fancy’s flight more bold;
Beget strange themes; and to freaks give birth
Of speech as wild as ever heightened mirth. 10
1836
“SAID RED-RIBBONED EVANS”
On the 26th of March 1836, Wordsworth sent the following lines to Henry Crabb Robinson; written, he tells him, “immediately on reading Evans’s modest self-defence speech the other day.” George de Lacy Evans was radical member of Parliament for Westminster. “In 1835, he took command of the British Legion raised for the service of the Queen Regent of Spain against Don Carlos.” (Professor Dowden.)—Ed.
Said red-ribboned Evans:
“My legions in Spain
Were at sixes and sevens;