XXIV

October, 1803.



  Six thousand Veterans practis'd in War's game,
  Tried Men, at Killicranky were array'd
  Against an equal Host that wore the Plaid,
  Shepherds and Herdsmen.--Like a whirlwind came
  The Highlanders, the slaughter spread like flame;
  And Garry thundering down his mountain-road
  Was stopp'd, and could not breathe beneath the load
  Of the dead bodies. 'Twas a day of shame
  For them whom precept and the pedantry
  Of cold mechanic battle do enslave.
  Oh! for a single hour of that Dundee
  Who on that day the word of onset gave!
  Like conquest would the Men of England see;
  And her Foes find a like inglorious Grave.

• About William Wordsworth