John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.
8411 Misellaneous John Bartlett
| NUMBER: | 8411 |
| AUTHOR: | Miscellaneous |
| QUOTATION: | An Austrian army, awfully array’d, Boldly by battery besiege Belgrade; Cossack commanders cannonading come, Deal devastation’s dire destructive doom; Ev’ry endeavour engineers essay, For fame, for freedom, fight, fierce furious fray. Gen’rals ’gainst gen’rals grapple,—gracious God! How honors Heav’n heroic hardihood! Infuriate, indiscriminate in ill, Just Jesus, instant innocence instill! Kinsmen kill kinsmen, kindred kindred kill. Labour low levels longest, loftiest lines; Men march ’midst mounds, motes, mountains, murd’rous mines. Now noisy, noxious numbers notice nought, Of outward obstacles o’ercoming ought; Poor patriots perish, persecution’s pest! Quite quiet Quakers “Quarter, quarter” quest; Reason returns, religion, right, redounds, Suwarrow stop such sanguinary sounds! Truce to thee, Turkey, terror to thy train! Unwise, unjust, unmerciful Ukraine! Vanish vile vengeance, vanish victory vain! Why wish we warfare? wherefore welcome won Xerxes, Xantippus, Xavier, Xenophon? Yield, ye young Yaghier yeomen, yield your yell! Zimmerman’s, Zoroaster’s, Zeno’s zeal Again attract; arts against arms appeal. All, all ambitious aims, avaunt, away! Et cætera, et cætera, et cæter |
| ATTRIBUTION: | Alliteration, or the Siege of Belgrade: a Rondeau. 1 |
| Note 1. These lines having been incorrectly printed in a London publication, we have been favoured by the author with an authentic copy of them.—Wheeler’s Magazine, vol. i. p. 244. (Winchester, England, 1828.) [back] |