With second life the deed of Marathon
Upon Athenian walls;
So may she labor for thy civic halls:
And be the guardian spaces
Of consecrated places
As nobly graced by Sculpture's patient toii;
And let imperishable Columns rise,
Fixed in the depths of this courageous soil;
Expressive signals of a glorious strife,
And competent to shed a spark divine
Into the torpid breast of daily life; -
Records on which, for pleasure of all eyes,
The morning sun may shine
With gratulation thoroughly benign 1
And ye, Pierian Sisters, sprung from Jove And sage Mnemosyne, full long debarred From your first mansions, exiled all too long From many a hallowed stream and grove, Dear native regions where ye wont to rove, Chanting for patient heroes the reward
Now (for, though Truth descending from above
The Olympian summit hath destroyed for aye
Your kindred Deities, ye live and move,
Spared for obeisance from perpetual love
For privilege redeemed of godlike sway)
Now, on the margin of some spotless fountain,
Or top serene of unmolested mountain,
Strike audibly the noblest of your lyres,
And for a moment meet the soul's desires!
That I, or some more favored Bard, may hear
What ye, celestial Maids! have often sung
Of Britain's acts, may catch it with rapt ear,
And give the treasure to our British tongue!
So shall the characters of that proud page
Support their mighty theme from age to age;
And, in the desert places of the earth,
When they to future empires have given birth,
So shall the people gather and believe
The bold report, transferred to every clime;
And the whole world, not envious, but admiring
And to the like aspiring,
Own, that the progeny of this fair Isle
Had power as lofty actions to achieve
As were performed in man's heroic prime;
Nor wanted, when their fortitude had held
Its even tenor, and the foe was quelled,
A corresponding virtue to beguile
The hostile purpose of wide-wasting Time,-
That not in vain they labored to secure,
For their great deeds, perpetual memory,
And fame as largely spread as land and sea,
By Works of spirit high and passion pure:
FEELINGS OF A FRENCH ROYALIST, ON THE DISINTERMENI
OF THE REMAINS OF THE DUC D'ENGHIEN.
DEAR Relics! from a pit of vilest mould
Uprisen, to lodge among ancestral kings,
And to inflict shame's salutary stings
On the remorseless hearts of men grown old
In a blind worship,- men perversely bold
Even to this hour,—yet some shall now forsake
Their monstrous Idol, if the dead e'er spake
To warn the living; if truth were ever told
By aught redeemed out of the hollow grave:
O murdered Prince! meek, loyal, pious, brave!
The power of retribution once was given :
But 't is a rueful thought, that willow bands
So often tie the thunder-wielding hands.
Of Justice sent to earth from highest Heaven!
OCCASIONED BY THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO.
(The last six lines intended for an inscription.)
INTREPID sons of Albion! not by you
Is life despised; ah no! the spacious earth
Ne'er saw a race who held, by right of birth,
So many objects to which love is due:
Ye slight not life, - to God and Nature true;
But death, becoming death, is dearer far,
When duty bids you bleed in open war:
Hence hath your prowess quelled that impious crew
Heroes for instant sacrifice prepared,
Yet filled with ardor and on triumph bent
Mid direst shocks of mortal accident,
To you who fell, and you whom slaughter spare: To guard the fallen, and consummate the event, Your Country rears this sacred Monument!
SIEGE OF VIENNA RAISED BY JOHN SOBIESKL.
O FOR a kindling touch from that pure flame
Which ministered, erewhile, to a sacrifice
Of gratitude, beneath Italian skies,
In words like these: "Up, Voice of song! proclaim
Thy saintly rapture with celestial aim:
For lo! the Imperial City stands released
From bondage threatened by the embattled East, And Christendom respires; from guilt and shame Redeemed, from miserable fear set free,
By one day's feat, one mighty victory.
Chant the Deliverer's praise in every tongue! The cross shall spread, the crescent hath waxed dim;
He conquering, as in joyful Heaven is sung,
HE CONQUERING THROUGH GOD, AND GOD BY
HIM." *
OCCASIONED BY THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO.
whose soul is meek as dawning day,
Yet trained to judgments righteously severe,
Fervid, yet conversant with holy fear,
As recognizing one Almighty sway:
He,-whose experienced eye can pierce the array
Of past events; to whom, in vision clear,
The aspiring heads of future things appear,
Like mountain-tops whose mists have rolled away,-
Assoiled from all encumbrance of our time,†
He only, if such breathe, in strains devout
Shall comprehend this victory sublime;
Shall worthily rehearse the hideous rout,
The triumph hail, which from their peaceful clime
Angels might welcome with a choral shout!
EMPERORS and Kings, how oft have temples rung With impious thanksgiving, the Almighty's scorn!
"From all this world's encumbrance did himself assoil."
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