208
An arm or leg shot off, there's yet the heart
To keep life warm, and he may live to talk
With pleasure of the glorious fight that maim'd him,
Proud of his loss. Old England's gratitude
Makes the maim'd sailor happy.
WOMAN.
'Tis not that—
An arm or leg—I could have borne with that.
'Twas not a ball, it was some cursed thing
That bursts[1] and burns that hurt him. Something Sir
They do not use on board our English ships
It is so wicked!
To keep life warm, and he may live to talk
With pleasure of the glorious fight that maim'd him,
Proud of his loss. Old England's gratitude
Makes the maim'd sailor happy.
WOMAN.
'Tis not that—
An arm or leg—I could have borne with that.
'Twas not a ball, it was some cursed thing
That bursts[1] and burns that hurt him. Something Sir
They do not use on board our English ships
It is so wicked!
- ↑ The stink-pots used on board the French ships. In the engagement between the Mars and L'Hercule, some of our sailors were shockingly mangled by them: One in particular, as described in the Eclogue, lost both his eyes. It would be policy and humanity to employ means of destruction, could they be discovered, powerful enough to destroy fleets and armies, but to use any thing that only inflicts additional torture upon the victims of our war systems, is cruel and wicked.
