Modred, whose magic song Made huge Plinlimmon bow his cloud-top't head. With me in dreadful harmony they join, And weave with bloody hands the tissue of thy line. II. "Weave the warp, and weave the woof, Mark the year, and mark the night, The shrieks of death, through Berkeley's roofs that ring,' Shrieks of an agonising king; She-wolf of France, with unrelenting fangs, of heaven.' What terrors round him wait! 4 The shores of Carnarvonshire, opposite the Isle of Anglesey. 5 Edward the Second, eruelly butchered in Berkeley Castle. Amazement in his van, with Flight combined; Mighty Victor, mighty Lord, Low on his funeral couch he lies;" No pitying heart, no eye, afford A tear to grace his obsequies. Is the sable warrior' fled? Thy son is gone he rests among the dead, The swarm, that in thy noontide beam were born? Fair laughs the Morn, and soft the Zephyr blows, "Fill high the sparkling bowl, The rich repast prepare: Reft of a crown, he yet may share the feast: Close by the regal chair, Fell Thirst and Famine scowl A baleful smile upon their baffled guest. Lance to lance, and horse to horse? Long years of havoc urge their destined course, And through the kindred squadrons mow their way. 8 Death of that king, abandoned by his children, and even robbed in his last moments by his courtiers and his mistress. 9 Edward the Black Prince, dead some time before his father. 10 Ruinous civil wars of York and Lancaster. 11 Henry the Sixth, George, Duke of Clarence, Edward the Fifth, Richard, Duke of York, &c., believed to be murdered secretly in the Tower of London. The oldest part of that structure is vulgarly attributed to Julius Cæsar. Revere his consort's" faith, his father's" fame, Twined with her blushing foe, we spread: Wallows beneath the thorny shade. Now, brothers, bending o'er th' accursed loom, Stamp we our vengeance deep, and ratify his doom. III. Edward, lo! to sudden fate (Weave we the woof: the thread is spun.) Half of thy heart we consecrate." (The web is wove: the work is done.) Stay, oh stay! nor thus forlorn Leave me unblest, unpitied, here to mourn: In yon bright track, that fires the western skies, They melt, they vanish from my eyes. But oh! what solemn scenes, on Snowdon's height Ye unborn ages, crowd not on my soul!. 12 Margaret of Anjou, a woman of heroic spirit, who struggled hard to save her husband and her crown. 13 Henry the Fifth. 14 Henry the Sixth, very near being canonised. The line of Lancaster had no right of inheritance to the crown. 15 The white and red roses, devices of York and Lancaster. 16 The silver boar was the badge of Richard the Third; whence he was usually known, in his own time, by the name of The Boar. 17 Eleanor of Castile died a few years after the conquest of Wales. The heroic proof she gave of her affection for her lord is well known. The monuments of his regret and sorrow for the loss of her are still to be seen at Northampton, Geddington, Waltham, and other places. No more our long-lost Arthur" we bewail- "Girt with many a baron bold, In the midst, a form divine! Her eye proclaims her of the Briton line; What strings symphonious tremble in the air! "The verse adorn again Fierce War, and faithful Love, And Truth severe, by fairy Fiction drest. In buskined measures 21 move Pale Grief, and pleasing Pain, With Horror, tyrant of the throbbing breast. Gales from blooming Eden bear; And distant warblings" lessen on my ear, That lost in long futurity expire. 18 It was the common belief of the Welsh nation, that King Arthur was still alive in Fairy-land, and should return again to reign over Britain. 19 Both Merlin and Taliessin had prophesied that the Welsh should regain their sovereignty over this island, which seemed to be accomplished in the house of Tudor. 20 Taliessin, chief of the bards, flourished in the sixth century. His works are still preserved, and his memory held in high veneration, among his countrymen. 21 Shakspeare. 23 Milton. * The succession of poets after Milton's time. G Fond, impious man, think'st thou yon sanguine cloud, And warms the nations with redoubled ray. The different doom our fates assign; He spoke, and headlong from the mountain's height GRAY. BATTLE OF THE BALTIC. Or Nelson and the North, When to battle fierce came forth All the might of Denmark's crown, And her arms along the deep proudly shone. By each gun the lighted brand In a bold determined hand, And the prince of all the land Led them on. Like leviathans afloat, Lay their bulwarks on the brine; While the sign of battle flew On the lofty British line; It was ten of April morn by the chime: |