High-Barnet pass'd, we reach the plain,
Where Warwick, haughty earl, was slain:
So perish all, as Warwick fell,
Who 'gainst their lawful liege rebel!
Ah! passing strange, that one sweet flower
Should kindle all the rage of power!
Yet England oft has wail'd her woes,
And wept the colours of the rose.
The Earl of Warwick was killed at the Battle of Barnet in 1471.