"Fair laughs the Morn, and foft the Zephyr blows *,

"While, proudly riding o'er the azure realm "In gallant trim, the gilded veffel goes: "Youth on the prow, and Pleasure at the helm :

Regardless of the fweeping Whirlwind's fway,

That, hufh'd in grim repose, expects his evening prey.

II. 3,

"Fill high the sparkling bowl+,

"The rich repaft prepare ;

"'Reft of a crown, he yet may share the feaft;

*

Magnificence of Richard the Second's reign. See Froiffard, and other cotemporary

writers.

+ Richard the Second (as we are told by Archbishop 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 assassination, by Sir Piers of Exon, is of much later date.

"Close by the regal chair

t "Fell Thirft and Famine fcowl

"A baleful smile upon their baffled Guest. "Heard ye the din of battle bray

*

"Lance to lance, and horse to horse?

"Ye Towers of Julius +, London's lafting shame,

With many a foul and midnight-murder fed,

"Revere his confort's faith ‡, his Father's fame |,

* Ruinous civil wars of York and Lancafter. + Henry VI, George Duke of Clarence, Edward V. Richard Duke of York, &c. believed to be murdered fecretly in the Tower of London. The oldest part of that structure is vulgarly attributed to Julius Cefar.

Margaret of Anjou, a woman of Heroic Spirit, who struggled hard to fave her husband and her crown.

Henry V.

"And fpare the meek Ufurper's holy head*. "" Above, below, the Rofe of fnow t "Twin'd with her Blushing foe we spread; "The bristled Boar in infant

gore t "Wallows beneath the thorny fhade.

"Now, brothers, bending o'er th' accurfed

66

loom,

[his doom

Stamp we our vengeance deep, and ratify

III. I.

Edward, lo! to fudden fate

(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 [mourn; Leave me, unbless'd, unpitied, here to

**

Henry VI

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 Lancafter.

The filver Boar was the badge of Richard the Third; whence he was usually known, in his own time, by the name of the Boar.

Eleanor of Caftile died a few years after

"In yon bright track, that fires the West

ern fkies,

They melt, they vanish from my eyes.

But oh, what folemn fcenes on Snowdon's

height [roll? Defcending flow their glitt'ring skirts un• 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 t!

the conquest of Wales. The heroic proof she gave of her affection for her Lord is well known. The monuments of his regret and forrow for the loss of her, are ftill to be feen at Northampton, Geddington, Waltham, and other places.

* It was the common belief of the Welch nation, that King Arthur was still alive in Fairy-land, and should return again to reign over Britain.

✦ Both Merlin and Talieffin had prophefied, that the Welch fhould regain their fovereignty over this Ifland, which feemed to be accomplished in the houfe of Tudor.

F.

III. 2.

⚫ Girt with many a Baron bold, Sublime their starry fronts they rear ; And gorgeous Dames, and Statefmen old In bearded majefty, appear.

In the midst a form divine!

Her eye proclaims her of the Briton-line; • Her lion-port, her awe-commanding face*, < Attemper'd sweet to virgin-grace.

• What ftrings fymphonious tremble in the air,

• What strains of vocal transport round her play?

• Hear from the grave, great Talieffin heart,

*Speed relating an audience given by Q Elizabeth to Paul Dzialmski, Ambassador of Poland, fays, " And thus fhe, lion-like, rifing, "daunted the malapert orator no less with her ftately port and majestical deporture, than "with the tartneffe of her princelie chekes."

+ Talieffin, chief of the Bards, flourished in the VIth century. His works are ftill preServed, and his memory held in high veneration among his countrymen.