| James and Mary Ford, eds. Every Day in the Year. 1902. | | | | September 23 | | Death of General Marceau | | By Lord Byron (1788–1824) |
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| A French general of the Napoleonic wars. He died Sept. 23, 1796. |
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BY Coblentz, on a rise of gentle ground, | |
| There is a small and simple pyramid, | |
| Crowning the summit of the verdant mound; | |
| Beneath its base are heroes’ ashes hid, | |
| Our enemy’s—but let not that forbid | 5 |
| Honor to Marceau! o’er whose early tomb | |
| Tears, big tears, gush’d from the rough soldier’s lid, | |
| Lamenting and yet envying such a doom, | |
| Falling for France, whose rights he battled to resume. | |
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| Brief, brave, and glorious was his young career,— | 10 |
| His mourners were two hosts, his friends and foes, | |
| And fitly may the stranger lingering here | |
| Pray for his gallant spirit’s bright repose; | |
| For he was Freedom’s champion, one of those, | |
| The few in number, who had not o’erstept | 15 |
| The charter to chastise which she bestows | |
| On such as wield her weapons; he had kept | |
| The whiteness of his soul, and thus men o’er him wept. | | | |
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