OCCASIONED BY THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO
FEBRUARY 1816
OCCASIONED BY THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO
INTREPID sons of Albion! not by you Is life despised; ah no, the spacious earth Ne’er saw a race who held, by right of birth, So many objects to which love is due: Ye slight not life–to God and Nature true; But death, becoming death, is dearer far, When duty bids you bleed in open war: Hence hath your prowess quelled that impious crew. Heroes!–for instant sacrifice prepared; Yet filled with ardour and on triumph bent 10 ‘Mid direst shocks of mortal accident– To you who fell, and you whom slaughter spared To guard the fallen, and consummate the event, Your Country rears this sacred Monument!