---
title: "Impromptu on General Dumourier’s Desertion from the French Republican Army"
author: "Robert Burns"
form: "Poem"
year: "1793"
location: "Dumfries"
source: "Project Gutenberg #1279 — Poems and Songs of Robert Burns"
source_url: "https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1279/pg1279.txt"
canonical_url: "https://robert-burns.com/poems/impromptu-on-general-dumouriers-desertion-from-the-french-republican-army/"
---

# Impromptu on General Dumourier’s Desertion from the French Republican Army

## Poem
You’re welcome to Despots, Dumourier;  
You’re welcome to Despots, Dumourier:  
How does Dampiere do?  
Ay, and Bournonville too?  
Why did they not come along with you, Dumourier?

I will fight France with you, Dumourier;  
I will fight France with you, Dumourier;  
I will fight France with you,  
I will take my chance with you;  
By my soul, I’ll dance with you, Dumourier.

Then let us fight about, Dumourier;  
Then let us fight about, Dumourier;  
Then let us fight about,  
Till Freedom’s spark be out,  
Then we’ll be damn’d, no doubt, Dumourier.

---

Source: [Project Gutenberg #1279 — Poems and Songs of Robert Burns](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1279/pg1279.txt)  
Canonical HTML: https://robert-burns.com/poems/impromptu-on-general-dumouriers-desertion-from-the-french-republican-army/