II. 3. "Fill high the Iparkling bowl, The rich repaft prepare, "Reft of a crown, he yet may share the feaft: "Close by the regal Chair "Fell Thirft and Famine fcowl "A baleful fmile upon their baffled Gueft, "Heard ye the din of † battle bray, "Lance to lance, and horfe to horse? "Long years of havock urge their deftin'd course, "And thro' the kindred fquadrons mow their way. "Ye * Richard the Second, (as we are told by Archbi Shop Scroop and the confederate Lords in their manifefto, by Thomas of Walfingham, and all the older Writers) was ftarved to death. The ftory of his af faffination by Sir Piers of Exon, is of much later date. + Ruinous wars of York and Lancaster. "Ye Tow'rs of Julius, London's lafting fhame, "With many a foul and midnight murther fed, "Revere his + Confort's faith, his Father's fame, "And fpare the meek | Ufurper's holy head. "Above, below, the § rofe of fnow, "Twin'd with her blushing foe, we spread: The briftled ¶ Boar, in infant gore, "Wallows beneath the thorny fhade. "Now ** Henry the Sixth, George Duke of Clarence. Edward the Fifth, Richard Duke of York, &c. believed to be murthered fecretly in the Tower of London. The oldeft part of that structure is vulgarly attributed to Julius Cæfar. Margaret of Anjou, a woman of heroic fpirit, who ftruggled hard to fave her Husband and her Crown. Henry the Fifth. Henry the Sixth very near being canonized. The Line of Lancaster had no right of inheritance to the Crown. § The white and red rofes, devices of York and Lancaster. The filver Boar was the badge of Richard the Third whence he was ufually known in his own time by the name of the Boar. "Now, Brothers, bending o'er th' accurfed loom, "Stamp we our vengeance deep, and ratify his doom, " (Weave we the woof. The thread is fpun) "Half of thy heart we confecrate. (The web is wove. The work is done.)" "Stay, oh ftay! nor thus forlorn "Leave me unblefs'd, unpitied, here to mourn: "In yon bright track, that fires the western fkies, 66 They melt, they vanish from my eyes. "But, *Eleanor of Caftile died a few years after the conquest of Wales. The heroic proof fhe gave of her affection for her Lord is well known. The monuments of his regret, and forrow for the lofs of her, are ftill to be feen at Northampton, Geddington, Waltham, and other places. E "But, oh! what folemn fcenes on Snowdon's 6.6 height Defcending flow their glitt'ring skirts unroll? Vifions of glory, fpare my aching fight, "Ye unborn Ages, crowd not on my foul! "No more our long loft* Arthur we bewail. "All-hail, ye genuine Kings, Britannia's Iffue hail! + III. 2. "Girt with many a Baron bold, "Sublime their ftarry fronts they rear; "And gorgeous Dames, and State finen old "In bearded majesty, appear. "In It was the common belief of the Welsh nation, that King Arthur was still alive in Fairy-land, and fhould return again to reign over Britain. + Both Merlin and Talieffin had prophefied, that the Welsh should regain their fovereignty over this ifland; which feemed to be accomplished in the Houfe of Tudor. "In the midft a Form divine! "Her eye proclaims her of the Briton-line; "What ftrings fymphonious tremble in the air, "What ftrains of vocal transport round her play! "Hear from the grave, great Talieffin †, "They breathe a foul to animate thy clay. hear Bright rapture calls, and foaring as fhe fings, ; "Waves in the eye of Heav'n her many-colour'd wings. The * Speed, relating an audience given by Queen Elizabeth to Paul Dzialinfki, Ambaffador of Poland, fays, And thus fhe, lion-like rifing, daunted the malapert "Orator no lefs with her ftately port and majefical deporture, than with the tartneffe of her princelie "checkes." 66 Talieffin, Chief of the Bards, flourished in the VIth Century. His works are ftill preferved, and his memory held in high veneration among his Countrymen. |