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 |  |
Seeks Ireland with a well appointed host;
And fulminating proclamations ring,
With mingled clang of arms round Erin's coast.
When William, leaving to his Consort's care
Which well she husbanded, the regal sway,
Hastens the perils of the war to share.
With cautious tactic for the fight provide;
Here Berwick's Duke on James's quarry stands,
Tyrconnel there leads bold Hibernian bands;
And Hamilton, whose bearing more were prized,
But that his honor, falsely compromised,
Was pledged for William with the foe to treat,
While friendship's sacred garb concealed deceit,
Lauzan and Hocquencourt, in proud array,
Their Gallic and Helvetian ranks display;
A chosen squadron cautious James protects,
Who from a distant hill the war directs.
Opposing, see brave William's banner fly,
In all the hope of coming victory;
Nassau beneath, from rank to rank imparts
The fire of valour to his soldiers hearts.
Such mark'd escape from slaughter found,
That foes, who what they wish believe,
And France (her subjects to deceive,)
With gay illumination blazing round,
And cannons far proclaiming sound,
Gave note of what had not yet taken place:
Nor yet reformed th' equivocating race!
When Wellington her titled marshals bleeds,
Their court gazettes describe what's done
In terms reversed, and chronicle great deeds,
Not of the victors, but of those who run.
With warmth their own each patriot breast inspire;
There gallant Ormond's fearless lads advance;
They met, and Boyne's discolour'd wave
Of many a bleeding corse becomes the grave.
Little delights the Muse to dwell,
With circumstance, on how they fell;
Nor wields she a terrific pen,
Each cloven helm to cleave again;
Nor owns her wing such rapid flight,
As wheel with whirl of faulchion bright;
Nor in their lightning path she traces
Death's leaden envoys to their places;
Suffice to say that William won the field,
Suffice to say that James, compell'd to yield,
To shelt'ring Gaul renews his rapid flight
And abdicates a second time his right.
A pause you'll kindly grant us here,
While Schomberg's memory claims a tear;
Modest in council, dreadful in affray,
His death had almost given James the day.
And well he proved his demi-British worth,
Princely his rank, intrepid, skilful, bold,
In age a youth, in sage experience old;
With him five hundred ting'd the reddening flood;
For James near thrice that number shed their blood!
Louis, pretending to assist King James,
Lights up of civil wars again the flames;
Fruitless his efforts, William's star presides,
And each attempt against his crown derides.
When England in her turn the war declares,
For foreign scenes of strife the King prepares;
Plots, still detected, would his life assail,
By worthless means fore-doom'd by fate to fail.
Frequent campaigns the hero's worth proclaim,
Britain and Belgia echo with his name,
And France reluctantly admits his fame.
Yet fortune unalloy'd is not decreed,
Man can, on earth, but partially succeed;
His Mary gains an everlasting crown:
Beam'd not the flatterers tear in Britain's eye,
When Heaven's fiat doom'd the Queen to die.
Genuine the sorrow felt by high and low,
Most genuine his who keenest felt the blow;
Call'd to the field again by Gallic foes,
In war the widow'd King beguiled his woes.
Namur, impregnable esteem'd 'till now,
Before the British standard deigns to bow;
More plots detected, their projector shames,
And history blushes to suppose King James,
Who threats another trial of his right,
Almost—embarks—and then declines it quite!
France sues; Nassau from his paternal seat,
At Berwick arbitrates the peace they greet;
France, faithless to her treaties, seizes Spain,
A trick of late she tried, but tried in vain;
The gauntlet iron war accepts again,
Waves his red plume and joyous seeks the plain!
Robs of a brilliant jewel England's throne;
Unites in realms above the royal pair,
For Kings, who bless mankind, find certain blessing there.
Kilmore, Coleraine, Inniskilling, Londonderry, &c. &c. were beseiged by one or both parties, and desperately contested.
General Hamilton had been accredited from King William to make proposals to the Earl of Tyrconnel; he betrayed his trust, and joined him. He behaved most gallantly in the field, and was wounded. When taken prisoner, and brought before the King, he was asked whether he thought the Irish would make any further resistance; he answered, “Upon my honor I believe they will, for they have still a good body of horse.” William, eying him significantly, replied, “Your honor! Your honor!” and turned away. He afterwards ordered his wounds to be taken care of. Burnet, Field of Mars, &c.
William had part of his clothes, and the flesh of his shoulder, carried away the night before the battle, while in a reconnoisance. This was observed on the opposite side of the river by James's Army; the death of William proclaimed with loud shouts; the news sent off to France; and Paris was actually illuminated on the occasion. Field of Mars, &c.
Duke Schomberg, when General Hamilton, at the front of King James, had nearly routed a wing of King William's army, put himself at the head of a corps of French Protestants; and, pointing to the enemy, said, “Gentlemen, these are your persecutors.” He then led them with an impetuosity which turned the fortune of the day in that quarter, though himself slain in the contest. His death was the more lamented, as he had parted from the Council of War rather hurt at the rejection of his advice with respect to the disposition of the field, in points where he was afterwards judged to have been correct.
He was descended of a noble family in the Palatinate, his mother was an English woman, daughter of Lord Dudley; he had served in Holland, England, France, Portugal, and Brandenburgh; he obtained the dignities of Mareschal in France, Grandee in Portugal, Generalissimo in Prussia, and Duke in England.
| A Metrical History of England | |