Reminiscences, in Prose and Verse Consisting of the Epistolary Correspondence of Many Distinguished Characters. With Notes and Illustrations. By the Rev. R. Polwhele |
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 | Reminiscences, in Prose and Verse |  |
166
EPITAPH ON TWO FAITHFUL DOGS,
Cæsar and Nelson. 1835.
Buried beneath Napoleon's willows,Here rest two very faithful fellows.
High names they nobly bore, or else on
Cæsar, they “made a lie,” and Nelson!
If ask'd of each—why stole he on
The relics of Napoleon—
I answer, that to rival Bony,
They flush'd a cock or chased a coney;
Both in pursuit of licens'd game.
Sure was their scent, and just their aim.
And I am certain that our Cæsar
To puff up Vanity, or ease her,
Ne'er wrote a Commentary-tattle,
To tell us all about a battle;
And that our Nelson, not for booty,
Did (more than every man) his duty.
My two late housedogs lie buried near the spot where my son planted a slip or two which he had plucked from Buonaparte's willow at St. Helena.
This resembles one of the epitaphs in Theocritus—“the sweet Sicilian Bard”—“done into English” by me 55 years ago. My translation was asleep, I believe. But a kind Critic in Fraser's admirable Magazine has just awakened it from its slumbers. He thought, too, I was lost in the delirium of old age stealing from life.—Alas! it is far otherwise!
| Reminiscences, in Prose and Verse | |