250TH ANNIVERSARY
Sir Walter Scott
God Protect Brave Alexander
(1800)
Strong feelings lie beneath the surface of Sir Walter Scott's official poem in praise of Czar Alexander I. Absorbed as he was in the renovation of his beloved house Abbotsford near Edinburgh, Scott was still swept up in the tumultuous politics of the age. Only four years had passed since Napoleon's retreat from the blood-soaked plains of Russia.
"God Protect Brave Alexander" was sung to an air by Haydn at a formal dinner in Edinburgh. Among the party was the Czar's younger brother, the Grand Duke Nicholas. Scott had met the Emperor the year before at a ball in Paris celebrating the Duke of Wellington's victory over Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo.
Scott's poem is among letters dealing with the poet's renovation of Abbotsford.
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