(_Not by Julius Cæsar._)
A great many correspondents of the daily press are directing the
attention, I suppose, of the Government to what they call the
"defenceless state of Great Britain." Will you allow me, on account, as
I think, of its rarity, to submit to you the following extract from the
_Macaronéa_, par Octave Delepierre (_Gancia_, Brighton, 1852),
attributed to Porson. The lines were composed on occasion of the
projected French invasion under Napoleon.
"LINGO DRAWN FOR THE MILITIA.
"_Ego nunquam audivi_ such terrible news,
At this present _tempus_ my _sensus_ confuse;
I'm drawn for a _miles_,--I must go _cum marte_,
And, _concinus ense_,--engage Bonaparte.
"Such _tempora nunquam videbant majores_,
For then their opponents had different _mores_;
But we will soon prove to the Corsican vaunter,
Though Times may be changed,--Britons never _mutantur_.
"_Mehercle!_ this Consul _non potest_ be quiet,
His word must be _lex_, and where he says _Fiat_,
_Quasi Deus_, he thinks we must run at his nod,
But Britons were ne'er good at running, by ----!
"_Per mare_, I rather am led to _opine_,
To meet British _naves_ he would not incline;
Lest he should _in mare profundum_ be drown'd,
_Et cum algâ, non laurâ_, his _caput_ be crown'd.
"But allow that this boaster in Britain could land,
_Multis cum aliis_ at his command:
Here are lads who will meet, aye, and properly work 'em,
And speedily send 'em, _ni fallor, in orcum_.
"_Nunc_, let us, _amici_, join _corda et manus_,
And use well the _vires Dî Boni_ afford us;
Then let nations combine, Britain never can fall,
She's, _multum in parvo_, a match for them all."
These verses are quoted by M. Delepierre, from Stephen Collet's _Relics
of Literature_, 8vo. 1823.