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WRITTEN AT THE REQUEST OF THE HIGHLAND SOCIETY IN LONDON, WHEN MET TO COMMEMORATE THE 21ST OF MARCH,

THE DAY OF VICTORY IN EGYPT.

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PLEDGE to the much-loved land that gave us birth!
Invincible romantic Scotia's shore!

Pledge to the memory of her parted worth!
And first, amidst the brave, remember Moore !

And be it deemed not wrong that name to give,
In festive hours, which prompts the patriot's sigh!
Who would not envy such as Moore to live?
And died he not as heroes wish to die?

Yes, though too soon attaining glory's goal,
To us his bright career too short was given;

Yet in a mighty cause his phoenix soul

Rose on the flames of victory to Heaven!

How oft (if beats in subjugated Spain

One patriot heart) in secret shall it mourn For him!-How oft on far Corunna's plain Shall British exiles weep upon his urn!

Peace to the mighty dead ;-our bosom thanks
In sprightlier strains the living may inspire!
Joy to the chiefs that lead old Scotia's ranks,
Of Roman garb and more than Roman fire!

Triumphant be the thistle still unfurled,

Dear symbol wild! on Freedom's hills it grows, Where Fingal stemmed the tyrants of the world, And Roman eagles found unconquered foes.

Joy to the band* this day on Egypt's coast,
Whose valour tamed proud France's tricolor,
And wrenched the banner from her bravest host,
Baptized Invincible in Austria's gore!

Joy for the day on red Vimeira's strand,
When, bayonet to bayonet opposed,

First of Britannia's host her Highland band

Gave but the death-shot once, and foremost closed!

Is there a son of generous England here

Or fervid Erin?-he with us shall join,

To pray that in eternal union dear,

The rose, the shamrock, and the thistle twine!

Types of a race who shall th' invader scorn,
As rocks resist the billows round their shore;
Types of a race who shall to time unborn
Their country leave unconquered as of yore!

* The 42nd Regiment. ·

STANZAS

TO THE MEMORY OF THE SPANISH PATRIOTS LATEST KILLED IN
RESISTING THE REGENCY AND THE DUKE OF

ANGOULEME.

BRAVE men who at the Trocadero fell

Beside your cannons conquered not, though slain,
There is a victory in dying well

For Freedom, and ye have not died in vain ;
For come what may, there shall be hearts in Spain
To honour, ay embrace your martyred lot,

Cursing the Bigot's and the Bourbon's chain,

And looking on your graves, though trophied not,
As holier hallowed ground than priests could make the spot!

What though your cause be baffled-freemen cast
In dungeons-dragged to death, or forced to flee;
Hope is not withered in affliction's blast-

The patriot's blood 's the seed of Freedom's tree ;
And short your orgies of revenge shall be,
Cowled Demons of the Inquisitorial cell!
Earth shudders at your victory,-for ye

Are worse than common fiends from Heaven that fell,
The baser, ranker sprung, Autochthones of Hell!

Go to your bloody rites again-bring back
The hall of horrors and the assessor's pen,
Recording answers shrieked upon the rack;
Smile o'er the gaspings of spine-broken men ;—
Preach, perpetrate damnation in your den ;-
Then let your altars, ye blasphemers! peal
With thanks to Heaven, that let you loose again,
To practise deeds with torturing fire and steel

No eye may search-no tongue may challenge or reveal!

Yet laugh not in your carnival of crime

Too proudly, ye oppressors !-Spain was free,
Her soil has felt the foot-prints, and her clime
Been winnowed by the wings of Liberty;
And these even parting scatter as they flee
Thoughts-influences, to live in hearts unborn,
Opinions that shall wrench the prison-key

From Persecution-show her mask off-torn,
And tramp her bloated head beneath the foot of Scorn.

Glory to them that die in this great cause;
Kings, Bigots, can inflict no brand of shame,
Or shape of death, to shroud them from applause :-
No!-manglers of the martyr's earthly frame!
Your hangmen fingers cannot touch his fame.
Still in your prostrate land there shall be some
Proud hearts, the shrines of Freedom's vestal flame.
Long trains of ill may pass unheeded, dumb,
But vengeance is behind, and justice is to come.

X

SONG OF THE GREEKS.

AGAIN to the battle, Achaians!

Our hearts bid the tyrants defiance;

Our land, the first garden of Liberty's tree

It has been, and shall yet be, the land of the free:
For the cross of our faith is replanted,

The pale dying crescent is daunted,

And we march that the foot-prints of Mahomet's slaves May be washed out in blood from our forefathers' graves. Their spirits are hovering o'er us,

And the sword shall to glory restore us.

Ah! what though no succour advances,

Nor Christendom's chivalrous lances

Are stretched in our aid-be the combat our own!
And we'll perish or conquer more proudly alone;
For we've sworn by our Country's assaulters,
By the virgins they've dragged from our altars,
By our massacred patriots, our children in chains,
By our heroes of old, and their blood in our veins,
That, living, we shall be victorious,

Or that, dying, our deaths shall be glorious.

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