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Title: Reinforcements For Lord Wellington
Author: Thomas Moore [
More Titles by Moore]
_suosque tibi commendat, Troja Penates hos cape fatorum comites_.
VERGIL.
1813.
As recruits in these times are not easily got
And the Marshal _must_ have them--pray, why should we not,
As the last and, I grant it, the worst of our loans to him,
Ship off the Ministry, body and bones to him?
There's not in all England, I'd venture to swear,
Any men we could half so conveniently spare;
And tho' they've been helping the French for years past,
We may thus make them useful to England at last.
Castlereagh in our sieges might save some disgraces,
Being used to the _taking_ and _keeping_ of _places_;
And Volunteer Canning, still ready for joining,
Might show off his talent for sly _under-mining_.
Could the Household but spare us its glory and pride,
Old Headfort at _horn-works_ again might be tried,
And as Chief Justice make a _bold charge_ at his side:
While Vansittart could victual the troops _upon tick_,
And the Doctor look after the baggage and sick.
Nay, I do not see why the great Regent himself
Should in times such as these stay at home on the shelf:
Tho' thro' narrow defiles he's not fitted to pass,
Yet who could resist, if he bore down _en masse_?
And tho' oft of an evening perhaps he might prove,
Like our Spanish confederates, "unable to move,"[1]
Yet there's _one_ thing in war of advantage unbounded,
Which is, that he could not with ease be _surrounded_.
In my next I shall sing of their arms and equipment:
At present no more, but--good luck to the shipment!
NOTE:
[1] The character given to the Spanish soldier, in Sir John Murray's memorable despatch.
[The end]
Thomas Moore's poem: Reinforcements For Lord Wellington
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