Vide, come pur vuol l' antica istoria
In cotal giorno la città del Fiore
Quel nobil segno, e del Signor la gloria
In quella Imago, e 'l sempiterno amore,
Si che viva ne serba ancor memoria,
Le porge voti, à Dio sacrando il core;
Però ch' è scala quel depinto aspetto
Onde l'huom poggi al vero eterno oggetto.
Avanzò tanto il natural confine
Del sacro capo in ogni parte il moto,
Si fur sopra natura alte e divine
Quelle maniere, e l'atto aperto e noto,
Che tante genti ch' ivi humili, e chine
Il vider, s' arrestrar col guardo immoto;
Che l'estremo stupor fa l' huom conforme
A un sasso, o mezzo tra chi vegghia, e dorme.
Ma quei, per cui se fe'l divin mistero,
Poi che spense dell' ira il foco avverso,
Si di se dona al suo Signor l'impero,
Si al gran miracol dentro ha il cor converso,
Ch' ad altro non rivolge unqua il pensiero,
In questo sol tien l' intelletto immerso,
Senza parlar s' affisa in terna, è a pena
L'interno ardor per brave spazio affrena.
NICOLO LORENZINI, part I. pp. 25-32.
THE Emperor Nap he would set off
On a summer excursion to Moscow;
The fields were green, and the sky was blue,
Morbleu! Parbleu !
What a pleasant excursion to Moscow!
Four hundred thousand men and more
go with him to Moscow:
There were Marshals by the dozen,
And Dukes by the score;
Princes a few, and Kings one or two; While the fields are so green, and the sky so blue, Morbleu! Parbleu !
What a pleasant excursion to Moscow !
There was Junot and Augereau,
Heigh-ho for Moscow !
Dombrowsky and Poniatowsky,
Marshal Ney, lack-a-day!
General Rapp and the Emperor Nap;
While the fields were so green, and the sky so blue, Morbleu! Parbleu !
Nothing would do
For the whole of this crew,
But they must be marching to Moscow.
The Emperor Nap he talk'd so big
That he frighten'd Mr. Roscoe.
John Bull, he cries, if you'll be wise,
Ask the Emperor Nap if he will please
To grant you peace upon your knees,
Because he is going to Moscow !
He'll make all the Poles come out of their holes,
And beat the Russians and eat the Prussians,
For the fields are green, and the sky is blue,
Morbleu! Parbleu !
And he'll certainly march to Moscow !
And Counsellor Brougham was all in a fume
At the thought of the march to Moscow:
The Russians, he said, they were undone,
And the great Fee-Faw-Fum
Would presently come
With a hop, step, and jump unto London.
For as for his conquering Russia,
However, some persons might scoff it,
Do it he could, and do it he would,
And from doing it nothing would come but good,
And nothing could call him off it.
Mr. Jeffrey said so, who must certainly know, For he was the Edinburgh Prophet.
They all of them knew Mr. Jeffrey's Review, Which with Holy Writ ought to be reckon'd: It was through thick and thin to its party true; Its back was buff, and its sides were blue; Morbleu! Parbleu !
It served them for Law and for Gospel too.
But the Russians stoutly they turned-to
Upon the road to Moscow.
Nap had to fight his way all through ;
They could fight, though they could not parlez-vous,
But the fields were green, and the sky was blue,
Morbleu! Parbleu !
And so he got to Moscow.
He found the place too warm for him,
For they set fire to Moscow.
To get there had cost him much ado,
And then no better course he knew,
While the fields were green, and the sky was blue
Morbleu! Parbleu !
But to march back again from Moscow.
The Russians they stuck close to him
All on the road from Moscow.
There was Tormazow and Jemalow
And all the others that end in ow;
Milarodovitch and Jaladovitch
And Karatschkowitch,
And all the others that end in itch;
Schamscheff, Souchosaneff,
And Schepaleff,
And all the others that end in eff;
Wasiltschikoff, Kostomaroff,
And Tchoglokoff,
And all the others that end in off;
Rajeffsky and Novereffsky
And Rieffsky,
And all the others that end in effsky;
Oscharoffsky and Rostoffsky,
And all the others that end in offsky;
And Platoff he play'd them off,
And Shouvaloff he shovell'd them off,
And Markoff he mark'd them off,
And Krosnoff he cross'd them off,
And Tuchkoff he touch'd them off,
And Boroskoff he bored them off,
And Kutousoff he cut them off,
And Parenzoff he pared them off,
And Worronzoff he worried them off,
And Doctoroff he doctor'd them off,
And Rodionoff he flogg'd them off.
And last of all an Admiral came,
A terrible man with a terrible name,
A name which you all know by sight very well ; But which no one can speak, and no one can spell. They stuck close to Nap with all their might,
They were on the left and on the right, Behind and before, and by day and by night,
He would rather parlez-vous than fight;
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