ghty Germany,
She of the Danube and the Northern Sea,
She rose, and off at once the yoke she threw.
All power was given her in the dreadful trance;
Those new-born Kings she withered like a flame."[B] 10
--Woe to them all! but heaviest woe and shame
To that Bavarian who could[2] first advance
His banner in accursed league with France,[C]
First open traitor to the German name![3]

VARIANTS:

[1] 1820.

... itself ... 1807.

[2] 1837.

... did ... 1807.

[3] 1837.

... to her sacred name! 1807.

... to a ... 1820.

FOOTNOTES:

[A] Arminius, or Hermann, the liberator of Germany from the Roman power,
A.D. 9-17. Tacitus says of him, "He was without doubt the deliverer of
Germany; and, unlike other kings and generals, he attacked the Roman
people, not at the commencement, but in the fullness of their power: in
battles he was not always successful, but he was invincible in war. He
still lives in the songs of the barbarians."--ED.

[B] The "new-born Kings" were the lesser German potentates, united in
the Confederation of the Rhine. By a treaty signed at Paris (July 12th,
1806), by Talleyrand, and the ministers of twelve sovereign houses of
the Empire, these princes declared themselves perpetually severed from
Germany, and united together as the Confederate States of the Rhine, of
which the Emperor of the French was declared Protector.--ED.

[C] On December 11, 1806, Napoleon concluded a treaty with Frederick
Augustus, the Elector of Saxony--who had been secretly on the side of
France for some time--to whom he gave additional territories, and the
title of King, admitting him into "the Confederation of the Rhine." He
had fallen, as one of the Prussian statesmen put it, into "that lowest
of degradations, to steal at another man's bidding."--ED.

THOUGHT OF A BRITON ON THE SUBJUGATION OF SWITZERLAND

Composed 1807.--Published 1807

[This was composed while pacing to and fro between the Hall of
Coleorton, then rebuilding, and the principal Farmhouse of the Estate,
in which we lived for nine or ten months. I will here mention that the
_Song on the Restoration of Lord Clifford_, as well as that on the
_Feast of Brougham Castle_, were produced on the same ground.--I. F.]

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