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Sir Walter Scott's Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border (1902)
Sir Walter Scott's Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border - 1902 Author:Walter Scott Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: WAR-SONG OF THE ROYAL EDINBURGH LIGHT DRAGOONS BY SIR WALTER SCOTT Nenniut. la not peace the end of arms ? Caratr1ch. Not where the cause implies a g... more »eneral conquest. Had we a difference with some petty isle, Or with our neighbours, Britons, for our landmarks, The taking in of some rebellious lord, Or making head against a slight commotion, After a day of blood, peace might be argued: But where we grapple for the land we live on, The liberty we hold more dear than life, The gods we worship, and, next these, our honours, And, with those, swords that know no end of battle— Those men, beside themselves, allow no neighbour, Those minds, that, where the day is, claim inheritance, And, where the sun makes ripe the fruit, their harvest, And, where they march, but measure out more ground To add to Rome It must not be—No ! as they are our foes, Let's use the peace of honour—that's fair dealing; But in our hands our swords. The hardy Roman, That thinks to graft himself into my stock. Must first begin his kindred under ground, And be allied in ashes.' Bonduca. The following War-Song was written during the apprehension of an invasion.1 The corps of volunteers, to which it was addressed, was raisedin 1797, consisting of gentlemen, mounted and armed at their own expense. It still subsists, as the Right Troop of the Royal Mid-Lothian Light Cavalry, commanded by the Honourable Lieutenant- Colonel Dundas.1 The noble and constitutional measure of arming freemen in defence of their own rights was nowhere more successful than in Edinburgh, which furnished a force of 3000 armed and disciplined volunteers, including a regiment of cavalry, from the city and county, and two corps of artillery, each capable of serving twelve guns. To such a force, above all others, migh...« less