 | The Poems of Charles Wolfe |  |
SPANISH SONG.
“He was so much struck by the grand national Spanish air, ‘Viva el Rey Fernando,’ the first time he heard it played by a friend, that he immediately commenced singing it over and over again, until he produced an English song admirably suited to the tune. The air, which has the character of an animated march, opens in a strain of grandeur, and suddenly subsides, for a few bars, into a slow and pathetic modulation, from which it abruptly starts again into all the enthusiasm of martial spirit. The words are happily adapted to these transitions, but the air should be known, in order that the merits of the song should be duly esteemed. The first change in the expression of the air occurs at the ninth line of the song, and continues to the end of the twelfth line.”—Wolfe's Remains, 9th edition, p. 30.
Let Gaul despair, and fly;
Her wrathful trumpet's speaking—
Let tyrants hear, and die.
Is burning red and far;
The soul of Spain is marching
In thunders to the war.—
Look round your lovely Spain,
And say shall Gaul remain?—
Behold yon naked plain—
Let us hear their drum—
Let them come, let them come!
For vengeance and freedom rally,
And Spaniards! onward for Spain!
Remember Napoleon's chain—
Remember your own Saragossa,
And strike for the cause of Spain—
Remember your own Saragossa,
And onward, onward for Spain!
| The Poems of Charles Wolfe | |