'A
Farewell to Arbroath'
Anonymous
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ARBROATH, farewell ! thou much-loved scene,
Where
kindness winged each passing day ;
In thee so blest our stay has been,
With
pain we force ourselves away.
But though the parting trumpet's sound
Now
bids us leave thy friendly shore,
Arbroath shall oft be pledged around
The
social tables in Strathmore.
And should a foe insult this coast,
Where
long may peace and plenty reign !
Should danger rouse your loyal host,
To
prove the impious menace vain,
Whate'er the patriot's bosom warms,
The
civic, the fraternal tie,
Shall summon us to friends in arms,
With
them to conquer or to die.
Ye matrons kind, ye nymphs so fair,
Who
charmed us with endearing smiles,
For such as you we'll proudly share
The
soldier's dangers and his toils. |
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These
verses were left one morning in the autumn of 1799
in the Arbroath coffee-room. They bear to have been
written by a member of the Meigle and Coupar Yeomanry
Cavalry, a detachment of which regiment had been quartered
in the town.
They were published originally in a contemporary periodical
called the 'Arbroath Magazine.' The verses are an
outcome of the military fervour of the time, but suggest
a not unpleasant social aspect of the mustering of
bodies of volunteers.
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Commentary
extracted from 'Round about the Round O with its Poets',
1883. |
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