How was I wont to feel my pulses thrill,
Like a rich harp-string, yearning to caress thee, And hear thy sweet 'my father! from these dumb And cold lips, Absalom!
"The grave hath won thee. I shall hear the gush Of music, and the voices of the young;
And life will pass me in the mantling blush,
And the dark tresses to the soft winds flung;But thou no more, with thy sweet voice, shalt come To meet me, Absalom!
"And, oh! when I am stricken, and my heart, Like a bruised reed, is waiting to be broken, How will its love for thee, as I depart,
Yearn for thine ear to drink its last deep token! It were so sweet, amid death's gathering gloom, To see thee, Absalom!
"And now, farewell! "Tis hard to give thee up, With death so like a gentle slumber on thee :- And thy dark sin!-Oh! I could drink the cup, If from this woe its bitterness had won thee. May God have called thee, like a wanderer, home, My erring Absalom!"
He covered up his face, and bowed himself A moment on his child: then, giving him A look of melting tenderness, he clasped His hands convulsively, as if in prayer; And, as a strength were given him of God, He rose up calmly, and composed the pall Firmly and decently, and left him there, As if his rest had been a breathing sleep.
Ex. CII-BATTLE OF BEAL' AU DUINE.
Ar once there rose so wild a yell Within that dark and narrow dell, As all the fiends from heaven that fell, Had pealed the banner cry of hell!
Forth from the path in tumult driven,
Like chaff before the wind of heaven, The archery appear:
For life! for life! their flight they ply- And shriek, and shout, and battle-cry, And plaids and bonnets waving high, And broad-swords flashing to the sky, Are maddening in their rear. Onward they drive in dreadful race, Pursuers and pursued;
Before that tide of flight and chase, How shall it keep its rooted place, The spearmen's twilight wood?
"Down, down," cried Mar, "your lances down! Bear back both friend and foe!"
Like reeds before the tempest's frown,
That serried grove of lances brown At once lay leveled low;
And closely shouldering side to side, The bristling ranks the onset bide. -"We'll quell the savage mountaineer, As their Tinchel cows the game! They come as fleet as forest deer, We'll drive them back as tame."
Bearing before them, in their course, The relics of the archer force Like wave with crest of sparkling foam, Right onward did Clan-Alpine come. Above the tide, each broad-sword bright Was brandishing like beam of light, Each targe was dark below; And with the ocean's mighty swing, When heaving to the tempest's wing, They hunted them on the foe.
I heard the lance's shivering crash, As when the whirlwind rends the ash; I heard the broad sword's deadly clang, As if an hundred anvils rang!
But Moray wheeled his rearward rank Of horsemen on Clan-Alpine's flank- "My banner-men, advance!
"I see," " he cried, "their column shake- Now, gallants! for your ladies' sake, Upon them with the lance!"
The horsemen dashed among the rout, As deer break through the broom; Their steeds are stout, their swords are out, They soon make lightsome room. Clan-Alpine's best are backward borne- Where, where was Roderick then! One blast upon his bugle-horn
Were worth a thousand men. And refluent through the pass of fear The battle's tide was poured; Vanished the Saxon's struggling spear, Vanished the mountain's sword. As Brocklinn's chasm, so black and steep, Receives her roaring linn,
As the dark caverns of the deep Suck the wild whirlpool in, So did the deep and darksome pass Devour the battle's mingled mass; None linger now upon the plain, Save those who ne'er shall fight again.
Ex. CIII.-THE DEVIL'S WALK ON EARTH.
FROM his brimstone bed at break of day,
A walking the devil is gone,
To look at his snug little farm of the world, And see how his stock went on.
Over the hill and over the dale, And he went over the plain;
And backward and forward he swished his tail, As a gentleman swishes a cane.
How then was the devil dressed?
Oh, he was in his Sunday's best,
His coat was red, and his breeches were blue,
And there was a hole where his tail came through.
He met a lord of high degree,
No matter what was his name;
Whose face with his own when he came to compare The expression, the look, and the air,
And the character, too, as it seemed to a hair— Such a twin-likeness there was in the pair,
That it made the devil start and stare,
For he thought there was surely a looking-glass there, But he could not see the frame.
He saw a lawyer killing a viper, On a dung-hill beside his stable; Ha! quoth he, thou put'st me in mind Of the story of Cain and Abel.
An apothecary on a white horse Rode by on his vocation ;
And the devil thought of his old friend Death in the Revelation.
He passed a cottage with a double coach-house, A cottage of gentility,
And he owned with a grin
That his favorite sin,
Is pride that apes humility.
He walked into London leisurely, The streets were dirty and dim: But there he saw Brothers the prophet, And Brothers the prophet saw him.
He entered a thriving bookseller's shop; Quoth he, we are both of one college, For I myself sate like a cormorant once Upon the tree of knowledge.
As he passed through Cold-Bath Fields he looked At a solitary cell;
And he was well pleased, for it gave him a hint For improving the prisons of hell.
He saw a turnkey tie a thief's hands With a cordial tug and jerk; Nimbly, quoth he, a man's fingers move When his heart is in his work.
He saw the same turnkey unfettering a man With little expedition;
And he chuckled to think of his dear slave-trade, And the long debates and delays that were made, Concerning its abolition.
At this good news, so great The devil's pleasure grew, That with a joyful swish he rent
The hole where his tail came through.
His countenance fell for a moment When he felt the stitches go; Ah! thought he, there's a job now That I've made for my tailor below.
Great news! bloody news! cried a newsman; The devil said, Stop, let me see! Great news? bloody news! thought the devil, The bloodier the better for me.
So he bought the newspaper, and no news At all for his money he had.
Lying varlet, thought he, thus to take in old Nick! But it 's some satisfaction, my lad,
To know thou art paid beforehand for the trick, For the sixpence I gave thee is bad.
He went to a coffee-house to dine, And there he had soy in his dish; Having ordered some soles for his dinner, Because he was fond of flat fish.
They are much to my palate, thought he, And now guess the reason who can, Why no bait should be better than place, When I fish for a parliament-man.
But the soles in the bill were ten shillings; Tell your master, quoth he, what I say; If he charges at this rate for all things, He must be in a pretty good way.
But mark ye, said he to the waiter, I'm a dealer myself, in this line, And his business, between you and me, Nothing like so extensive as mine.
Now soles are exceedingly cheap, Which he will not attempt to deny, When I see him at my fish-market, I warrant him, by-and-by.
« PreviousContinue » |