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 |  |
And large the laurel the lov'd warrior gave,
Purchased with life!—to his all-honor'd grave
Let every manly trait of patriot woe,
With beauty's pearly tear, co-mingled go:
What centuries of most sincere regret
Can to his mem'ry pay the nation's debt?—
Our debt to him whom nor destructive surge,
Nor all that Gallic arms and tactics urge,
Cou'd bar a passage on that very shore
Where Nelson's thunders had been heard before;
To him the glorious conflict who began,
Which drove Napoleon's legions, to a man,
To quit, inglorious, that much-injur'd strand,
Where violence and rapine bade them land;
To him who founded an immortal name
Upon a fugitive invader's shame!
It were too much intrusion here to tell,
The day on which great Abercrombie fell
Was, Reader, (tho' unworthy thy regard)
The birth-day of your humble, wou'd-be, Bard.
Purchased with life!—to his all-honor'd grave
Let every manly trait of patriot woe,
With beauty's pearly tear, co-mingled go:
What centuries of most sincere regret
Can to his mem'ry pay the nation's debt?—
Our debt to him whom nor destructive surge,
Nor all that Gallic arms and tactics urge,
Cou'd bar a passage on that very shore
Where Nelson's thunders had been heard before;
To him the glorious conflict who began,
Which drove Napoleon's legions, to a man,
To quit, inglorious, that much-injur'd strand,
Where violence and rapine bade them land;
274
Upon a fugitive invader's shame!
It were too much intrusion here to tell,
The day on which great Abercrombie fell
Was, Reader, (tho' unworthy thy regard)
The birth-day of your humble, wou'd-be, Bard.
| A Metrical History of England | |