Waterloo

Thermopylae and Cannae
Were glorious fields of yore,
Leonidas and Hannibal
Right famous evermore;
But we can claim a nobler name,
A field more glorious too,
The chief who thus achieved for us
Victorious Waterloo.

Let others boast of Cmsar’s host
Led on by Caesar’s skill,
And how fierce Attila could rout,
And Alaric could kill,—
But we—right well, O hear me tell
What British troops can do,
When marshalled by a Wellington
To win a Waterloo!

O for a Pindar’s harp to tune
The triumphs of that day!
O for a Homer’s pictured words
To paint the fearful fray!-
Alas, my tongue and harp illstrung
In feeble tones and few,
Hath little skill—yet right good will
To sing of Waterloo.

Then gather round, my comrades,
And hear a soldier tell
How full of honor was the day
When—every man did well!
And though a soldier’s speech be rough
His heart is hot and true,
While thus he tells of Wellington
At hard-fought Waterloo.

Sublimely calm, our iron Duke,
A lion in his lair,
Waited and watched with sleepless eye,
To see what France would dare,
Nor deign'd to stir from Brussels
Until he surely knew
The foe was rushing on his fate
At chosen Waterloo.

What? should the hunter waste his strength
Nor hold his good hounds back
Before he knows they near the foes
And open on the track?
No: let "surprise” blight Frenchmen’s eyes,
For truly they shall rue,
The giant skill that, stern and still,
Drew them to Waterloo!

Hotly the couriers gallop up
To Richmond’s festive scene,—
Alone, alone the chieftain stood
Undaunted and serene;
Ready, ready,—-staunch and steady,—
And forth the orders flew
That march'd us off to Quatre Bras,
And whelming Waterloo.

Begin, begin with Quatre Bras,
That twinborn field of fame
Where many a gallant deed was done
By many a gallant name,
That battlefield, which seem‘d to yield
An earnest and review
Of all that British courage dared
And did at Waterloo.

We heard from far old Blucher's guns,
At Ligny’s blazing street,
And hurried on to Weimar’s aid,
Right glad the foe to meet;
A score of miles to Quatre Bras;
But still to arms we stood,
And cheerly rushed without a pause
To win the Boissy wood:

Then, Just like cowards, three to one,
Before we could deploy,
To crush us, Ney and Excelmans
Flew down with fiendish joy:
But stout we stood in hollow squares,
And fought, and kept the ground,
While lancer spears and cuirassiers
Were charging us all round!

Aye, aye, my men, we battled then
Like wolves and bears at bay,
And thousands there among the dead
With sable Brunswick, lay:
And back to back in that attack
The ninety-second fought,—
And “steadily" the twenty-eighth
Behaved as Britons ought.

Then up came Maitland with the guards,
Hurrah! they clear the wood;
But still the furious Frenchman charged,
And still we stoutly stood,
Till gentle night drew on, and that
Drew off the treacherous Ney,
For when the morning dimly broke
—The fox had stole away!

Thus much, my lads, for Quatre Bras;
And now for Waterloo,
Where skill and courage did it all,
With God’s good help in view!
For we were beardless raw recruits,
And they, more numerous far,
Were fierce mustachioed mighty men,
The veterans of war.

The God of battles help’d us soon,
As godless France drew nigh,
-—It was the great eighteenth of June,
The sun was getting high ;—
And suddenly two hundred guns
At once, with thundering throats,
Peal'd out their dreadful overture
In deep volcano notes!

Then, by ten thousands, horse and foot,
Game on the foaming Gaul,
And still with bristling front we stood
As solid as a wall:
And stout Macdonnell’s Hougoumont,
The centre of the van,
Was storm’d and storm’d and storm’d—in vain,
—He held it like a man!

O who can count the myriad deeds
That hundreds did in fight?
Ponsonby falls, and Picton bleeds,
And—both are quenched in night:
And many a hero'subaltern
And hero private too
Beat Ajax and Achilles both
In winning Waterloo!

What shall I say on that dread day
Of Fender and his band?
Ten times he chased the foes away,
And charged them sword in hand;
Six of those ten he led his men
With blood upon his brow,—
And weakly in the eleventh died
To live in glory now!

Or, give a stave to Shaw the brave,
-—In death the hero sleeps,—
Hemm‘d by a score, he knock’d them o’er,
And hew’d them down in heaps;
Till, wearied out, the lion stout
Beset as by a pack
Of hungry hounds, fell full of wounds,
But none upon his back!

And Halket then before his men
Dash’d ‘forward and made prize
(While both the lines in wonderment
Could scarce believe their eyes)
Of a gaily-plumed French General
Harranguing his array,
But Halket caught him, speech and all,
And bore him right away!

Thee too, De Lancey, generous chief,
For thee a niche be found,—
Wounded to death, he scorned relief
Whilst others bled around:
And D’Oyley and Fitzgerald died,
Just as the day was won,—
And Gordon, by his general’s side-
The side of Wellington!

And Somerset and Uxbridge then
Gave each a limb to death;
Curzon and Canning cheered their men
With their last dying breath;
And gallant Miller stricken sore
With fainting utterance cries,
"Bring me my colors! wave them o'er
Your colonel till he dies!"

Then furious waxed the Emperor
That Britons wouldn’t run,
“Les betes, pourquoi ne fuient ils pas ?
Et donc, ce Vellington?”
But Vellington still holds his own
For eight red hours and more,
 “Why comes not Marshal Blucher down?
-Ha!—there‘s his cannons’ roar,—

“Up guards, and at them! charge!”-—the word
Like forkéd lightning passes,
And lance, and bayonet, and sword
Rush on in glittering masses!
Back, back the surging columns roll
Iii terrified dismay,
And onward shout against the rout
The conquerors of the day!

O now, the tide of battle
Is turn‘d to seas of blood,
When case and grape shot rattle
Among the multitude,
And Fates led on by Furies,
Destroy the flying best,
And Chaos mated with Despair
Makes all the lost most lost!

Woe, woe! thou caitiff-hero,
Thou Emperor—and slave,
Why didst not thou, too, nobly bleed
With those devoted brave?
No, no, the coward's thought was self,
And “sauve qui peut” his cry,
And verily at Waterloo
Did Great Napoleon die!