| |
| WHEN from these shores the British army first | |
| Boldly advanced into the heart of Spain, | |
| The admiring people who beheld its march | |
| Called it “the Beautiful.” And surely well | |
| Its proud array, its perfect discipline, | 5 |
| Its ample furniture of war complete, | |
| Its powerful horse, its men of British mould, | |
| All high in heart and hope, all of themselves | |
| Assured, and in their leaders confident, | |
| Deserved the title. Few short weeks elapsed | 10 |
| Ere hither that disastrous host returned, | |
| A fourth of all its gallant force consumed | |
| In hasty and precipitate retreat; | |
| Stores, treasure, and artillery, in the wreck | |
| Left to the fierce pursuer; horse and man | 15 |
| Foundered, and stiffening on the mountain snows. | |
| But when the exulting enemy approached, | |
| Boasting that he would drive into the sea | |
| The remnant of the wretched fugitives, | |
| Here, ere they reached their ships, they turned at bay. | 20 |
| Then was the proof of British courage seen: | |
| Against a foe far overnumbering them, | |
| An insolent foe, rejoicing in pursuit, | |
| Sure of the fruit of victory, whatsoe’er | |
| Might be the fate of battle, here they stood, | 25 |
| And their safe embarkation,—all they sought,— | |
| Won manfully. That mournful day avenged | |
| Their sufferings, and redeemed their country’s name; | |
| And thus Coruña, which in this retreat | |
| Had seen the else indelible reproach | 30 |
| Of England, saw the stain effaced in blood. | |
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