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1811.6
Sonnet
To France
“R. A. D.”
[Richard Arthur Davenport][1]
The Poetical Register and Repository of Fugitive Poetry, VI (1811),
p. 170
Detested land! such deep and deadly hate
As once to Rome the Punic hero swore
I vow to thee! O! were but mine the fate
Over thy pale and trembling plains to pour
The tempest of the battle, and to crush
In dust forever all thy vaunting pride,
Impetuous to the glorious task I'd rush,
Terror, Despair, Destruction, by my side!
Nor do I hate thee, France, for this alone,
That thou from age to age thyself has shown
For to the realm that rules the subject waves;
But that thy sons, detested land! are still
A race accurst, prone to extremes of ill;
Blood-drinking tyrants, or dust-licking-slaves!
1809