Just been reading more about the 14th (King’s) Hussars and came across an old song they sang during the Peninsular War:
Beaten backward in the press
Reeled the Old Fourteenth
And in triumph shrill arose
The yell of the triumphant foes,
As where the British Lion flew
Flaunting ‘White and Red and Blue
Full well the fiery Frenchmen knew
The fame of the Fourteenth
Beaten backward in the press
Reeled the old Fourteenth
Cheerily their Colonel spoke
As the red line round him broke
Laughing, waving with his hand
To the leader of the band,
As again they took their stand
The men of the Fourteenth
Play the Frenchman’s March, ‘ he said
The chief of the Fourteenth
“Strike it up, strike loud and clear,
As 1 stand before you here
We will prove our mettle soon,
Ere yon pale sun rides at noon
We’ll beat them to their own brave tune,
We men of the Fourteenth.’
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