Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Spain, Portugal, Belgium, and Holland: Vols. XIV–XV. 1876–79. | | | | Portugal: Roliça | | Inscription for a Monument at Rolissa | | Robert Southey (1774–1843) |
| | | TIME has been when Rolissa was a name | |
| Ignoble, by the passing traveller heard, | |
| And then forthwith forgotten; now in war | |
| It is renowned. For when to her ally, | |
| In bondage by perfidious France oppressed, | 5 |
| England sent succor, first within this realm | |
| The fated theatre of their long strife | |
| Confronted, here the hostile nations met. | |
| Laborde took here his stand; upon yon point | |
| Of Mount Saint Anna was his eagle fixed; | 10 |
| The veteran chief, disposing well all aid | |
| Of height and glen, possessed the mountain straits,— | |
| A post whose strength, thus manned and profited, | |
| Seemed to defy the enemy, and make | |
| The vantage of assailing numbers vain. | 15 |
| Here, too, before the sun should bend his course | |
| Adown the slope of heaven,—so had their plans | |
| Been timed,—he looked for Loison’s army, rich | |
| With spoils from Evora and Beja sacked. | |
| That hope the British knight, areeding well, | 20 |
| With prompt attack prevented; and nor strength | |
| Of ground, nor leader’s skill, nor discipline | |
| Of soldiers practised in the ways of war, | |
| Availed that day against the British arm. | |
| Resisting long, but beaten from their stand, | 25 |
| The French fell back; they joined their greater host | |
| To suffer fresh defeat, and Portugal | |
| First for Sir Arthur wreathed her laurels here. | | | | |
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