Not the France of Yore

James Montgomery

France, I hurry from thy shore;
Thou art not the France of yore,
Thou art new-born France no more.

Great thou wast; and who like thee?
Then mad-drunk with liberty;
What now?—neither great nor free.

This is part of the lengthy poem A Voyage Round the World.

In going round the world, James Montgomery is mstly concerned with the state of Freedom in the places he describes. He is evidently dissatisfied with where France has got to since the Revolution of 1789.