The following poem was contributed to, and printed in, a volume entitled "La Petite Chouannerie, ou Histoire d'un Collège Breton sous l'Empire. Par A. F. Rio. Londres: Moxon, Dover Street, 1842," pp. 62,63. The Hon. Mrs. Norton, Walter Savage Landor, and Monckton Milnes(Lord Houghton), were among the other English contributors to the volume, the bulk of which is in French. It was printed at Paris, and numbered 398 pages, including the title. It was a narrative of "the romantic revolt of the royalist students of the college of Vannes in1815, and of their battles with the soldiers of the French Empire." (H.REED.)--ED.
Composed (?).--Published 1842
Shade of Caractacus, if spirits love
The cause they fought for in their earthly home,
To see the Eagle ruffled by the Dove
May soothe thy memory of the chains of Rome.
These children claim thee for their sire; the breath
Of thy renown, from Cambrian mountains, fans
A flame within them that despises death,
And glorifies the truant youth of Vannes.
With thy own scorn of tyrants they advance,
But truth divine has sanctified their rage,
A silver cross enchased with flowers of France
Their badge, attests the holy fight they wage.
The shrill defiance of the young crusade
Their veteran foes mock as an idle noise;
But unto Faith and Loyalty comes aid
From Heaven, gigantic force to beardless boys.
[413] In the volume from which the above is copied, the original French lines (commencing at p. 106) are printed side by side with Wordsworth's translation, which ends on p. 111, and closes the volume.--ED.
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THE POETICAL WORKS OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, VOL. 8 (Completed)
PoetryThe Poetical Works of William Wordsworth, Vol. 8. Edited by William Knight
