XIX. "A precious lark!" the foremost cried; "Come--twig him, Tom! come--pin him, Roger!" "Who is it?" Then a sage replied-- "He's some infernal foreign sodger! He looks as how he'd scored ere now Some shoulders black and blue with lashes So pitch him here into the beer-- And, lads--we'll pull off his moustaches!" XX. They did--what brutal natures scorn. What savages would shrink to do-- What none but basest cowards born, And the most abject and most few, Would offer to an old man's head! O shame--O shame to Englishmen! If the old spirit be not dead, 'Tis time it showed itself again! XXI. What! in this land which shelter gave To all, whatever their degree, Or were they faint, or were they brave, Or were they slaves, or were they free-- In this Asylum of the Earth-- The noblest name it ever won-- Shall deeds like these pollute our hearth, Shall open shame like this be done? XXII. O most ignoble end of all Our boasted order and renown! The robber in the tribune's hall-- The maltster in the Judge's gown! The hospitable roof profaned; Old age by ruffian force opprest, And English hands most vilely stained With blood of an unconscious guest! XXIII. O Freedom! if thou wouldst maintain Thy empire on the British shore, Wash from thy robes that coward stain, Resume thy ancient garb once more. In virgin whiteness walk abroad, Maintain thy might from sea to sea, And, as the dearest gift of God, So men shall live and die for thee! Dies Boreales. No. VIII. CHRISTOPHER UNDER CANVASS. _Camp at Cladich._ SCENE--_The Wren's Nest._ TIME--_Evening._ NORTH--TALBOYS--SEWARD--BULLER. NORTH. Have you dined? TALBOYS. That we have, sir. NORTH. With me this has been Fast-day. TALBOYS. We saw it was, at our breakfast. Your abstinence at that meal, and at luncheon, we knew from the composure of your features, and your benignant silence, was not from any disorder of material organisation, but from steady moral resolve; so his absence from the Dinner-Table gave us no uneasiness about Numa. NORTH. No Nymph has been with him in the Grot. TALBOYS. His Good Genius is always with him in Solitude. The form we observed stealing--no, not stealing--gliding away--was, I verily believe, but the Lady of the Wood. NORTH.