 | Poems on Several Occasions |  |
53
The Campaign of Valencia.
‘Oh! let me speak it with a Roman spirit!
‘We were receiv'd, like undone prodigals
‘By curs'd ingrateful stewards, with cold looks,
‘Who still got all by those poor wretches ruin:
‘Like malefactors at the hands of justice.
‘If thus receiv'd! How paid our long arrears?
‘Why—as entrusted misers pay the rights
‘Of helpless orphans, or the widow's tears.
‘O soldier! for to thee, to thee, I speak it,
‘Bawds for the drudgery of citizens wives
‘Would better pay debilitated stallions.’
‘We were receiv'd, like undone prodigals
‘By curs'd ingrateful stewards, with cold looks,
‘Who still got all by those poor wretches ruin:
‘Like malefactors at the hands of justice.
‘If thus receiv'd! How paid our long arrears?
‘Why—as entrusted misers pay the rights
‘Of helpless orphans, or the widow's tears.
‘O soldier! for to thee, to thee, I speak it,
‘Bawds for the drudgery of citizens wives
‘Would better pay debilitated stallions.’
| Poems on Several Occasions | |