War and the Muses - "The Soldier's Farewell"

Educated Britons in the early nineteenth century all seem to have wanted to be known as poets, the result being an enormous outpouring of generally awful verse on an extraordinary variety of subjects. Not a little of the output were odes to military glory or appeals to patriotic sentiment, such as the piece below, from the pages of The Olio, a magazine of miscellanea published in London during the 1820s and 1830s.

The Soldier’s Farewell.

Hark! 'tis the warning tap of drum,

That bids me to the war ranks come;

To me it is the parting knell.

Which bids me say — a long farewell!

 

Wife of my bosom, we must part.

And while I hold thee to my heart,

Oh! thou can'st judge my bosom's swell,-

Wife of my bosom, fare thee well!

 

Chief of my hopes, my first-born joy,

List to thy father's words, my boy!

Let my precepts thy young heart swell, —

Chief of my fond hopes, fare thee well!

 

Child of my pride, my own dear girl,

May innocence her flag unfurl;

And in thy breast may virtue dwell. —

Dear child of my pride, fare thee well!

 

Friends of my soul, who oft hath taught

The hours, as moments, to seem short, —

Remember him, who now must tell.

Friends of my soul, a long farewell!

 

Land of my birth, from thee I go,

To save thee from the coming foe,

Fame bids me do my duty well, —

Land of my kindred, fare thee well !

--H. S.
 May 4, 1833

Over the years the otherwise unknown “H.S.” produced a fair number of similar pieces for The Olio, mixing patriotism, sentiment, and duty. Curiously, H.S.’s image of the British soldier is considerably at odds with the contemporary popular view of him as “the scum of the earth.” 

In CIC No. 264, we’ll run H.S.’s companion piece to “The Soldier’s Farewell,” aptly titled, “The Soldier’s Return.”