The Works of Peter Pindar [i.e. John Wolcot] ... With a Copious Index. To which is prefixed Some Account of his Life. In Four Volumes |
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 | The Works of Peter Pindar [i.e. John Wolcot] |  |
SONG.
[AGAIN we begin to be Britons, my boys]
AGAIN we begin to be Britons, my boys:
While united, success we command:—
Lo! each tar on the ocean a triumph enjoys,
And laurels shall cover the land.
While united, success we command:—
Lo! each tar on the ocean a triumph enjoys,
And laurels shall cover the land.
Though surrounded by foes that in legions arise,
And cry for our ruin aloud,
The Genius of England their fury defies,
And bursts like the sun from a cloud!
And cry for our ruin aloud,
The Genius of England their fury defies,
And bursts like the sun from a cloud!
May the king live for ever, the friend of our isle,
That revolts at the name of a slave;
Whose eye for fair Merit possesses a smile,
And a tear for the tomb of the brave!
That revolts at the name of a slave;
Whose eye for fair Merit possesses a smile,
And a tear for the tomb of the brave!
No man to his mistress or wife will return,
And say:—‘I have fled from the foe;
My honour is gone, in the grave let me mourn
A disgrace that no Briton should know.’
And say:—‘I have fled from the foe;
My honour is gone, in the grave let me mourn
A disgrace that no Briton should know.’
France, the beggar shall be of the year fifty-eight,
When for mercy she put up her pray'r;
With nought but her perfidy left, and her spite,
And her pride, to console her despair.
When for mercy she put up her pray'r;
With nought but her perfidy left, and her spite,
And her pride, to console her despair.
16
The Spaniard too late shall his folly confess,
When his Indies no longer remain;
And the Dutchman, a frog in the days of Queen Bess,
Shall croak in his ditches again.
When his Indies no longer remain;
And the Dutchman, a frog in the days of Queen Bess,
Shall croak in his ditches again.
But how needless to talk of our prowess in war,
And proclaim what a universe knows!
Let Langara, De Grasse, and De Winter, declare
What it is to have Britons for foes!
And proclaim what a universe knows!
Let Langara, De Grasse, and De Winter, declare
What it is to have Britons for foes!
| The Works of Peter Pindar [i.e. John Wolcot] | |