A Metrical History of England Or, Recollections, in Rhyme, Of some of the most prominent Features in our National Chronology, from the Landing of Julius Caesar to the Commencement of the Regency, in 1812. In Two Volumes ... By Thomas Dibdin |
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 | A Metrical History of England |  |
31
THE BRITONS.
The Romans all gone, or of pow'r bereft,
Each Briton rejoic'd with his brother;
'Till, finding they'd not one competitor left,
They wisely fell out with each other.
Each Briton rejoic'd with his brother;
'Till, finding they'd not one competitor left,
They wisely fell out with each other.
Protection with unity ever will fly,
The Wall too was idly forgot;
And, leaping its boundary, hourly you'd spy
A stern Pict or a muckle bra' Scot.
The Wall too was idly forgot;
And, leaping its boundary, hourly you'd spy
A stern Pict or a muckle bra' Scot.
“The groans of the Britons” are mournfully sent
“To Ætius, thrice Consul,” who sighs; 446
But turns the ambassadors back as they went,
Without one single word of supplies.
“To Ætius, thrice Consul,” who sighs; 446
But turns the ambassadors back as they went,
Without one single word of supplies.
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Each Briton, now dejected and a slave,
Flies to the ocean from the foe's attack;
Nor less relentless, the destructive wave
Devours or hurls them to their tyrants back.
Flies to the ocean from the foe's attack;
Nor less relentless, the destructive wave
Devours or hurls them to their tyrants back.
The Picts, (so called from Pictich, a Plunderer, and not from Picti, painted) and the Scots, from Scuite, a Wanderer, in the Celtic Tongue, were only different tribes of Caledonians. Dr. Henry.
Ætius, Prefect of Gaul, was thus addressed by “The Groans of the wretched Britons, to the thrice-appointed Consul, Ætius.—The Barbarians drive us into the Sea, and the Sea forces us back on the swords of the Barbarians.” Ætius was too closely engaged in opposing Attila, the renowned King of the Huns, to spare them any attention. Destruction of the Brittaines.
| A Metrical History of England | |