1805.
I HATE the drum's discordant sound,
Parading round and round and round ;
To thoughtless youth it pleasure yields,
And lures from cities and from fields,
To sell their liberty for charms
Of tawdry lace, and glitt'ring arms,
And, when Ambition's voice commands,
March, fight, and fall in foreign lands.
I hate that drum's discordant sound,
Parading round and round and round ;
To me it talks of ravag'd plains
And burning towns, and ruin'd swains,
And mangled limbs, and dying groans,
And widows' tears, and orphans' moans,
And all that Mis'ry's hand bestows
To swell the list of human woes.
Note by the Author.—“These verses were written on hearing a drum beat for the recruiting service.”
The above verses appeared in No. 1. of the Paisley Repository, 1805, along with and between the two pieces titled “The Old Beggar,” No. 171, and “The Soldier's Funeral,” No. 101. The three seem to have been a set furnished by Tannahill to the new periodical, all on a similar subject. This, like “The Old Beggar” and “The Soldier's Funeral,” very probably was one of “the pieces” sent along with them by Tannahill to Mr. John Crawford, Largs, and referred to in his answer of 8th May, 1805,—although not specially named. See Notes to that letter.—Ed.
[Semple 170]