Page images
PDF
EPUB

From Eddystone to Berwick bounds, from Lynn to Milford bay,
That time of slumber was as bright and busy as the day;
For swift to east and swift to west the ghastly war-flame spread;
High on St. Michael's Mount it shone: it shone on Beachy Head.
Far on the deep the Spaniard saw, along each southern shire,
Cape beyond cape, in endless range, those twinkling points of fire.
The fisher left his skiff to rock on Tamar's glittering waves:
The rugged miners poured to war from Mendip's sunless caves:
O'er Longleat's towers, o'er Cranbourne's oaks, the fiery herald flew :
He roused the shepherds of Stonehenge, the rangers of Beaulieu.
Right sharp and quick the bells all night rang out from Bristol town,
And ere the day three hundred horse had met on Clifton down;
The sentinel on Whitehall gate looked forth into the night,
And saw, o'erhanging Richmond Hill, the streak of blood-red light.
The bugle's note and cannon's roar the death-like silence broke,
And with one start, and with one cry, the royal city woke.

At once on all her stately gates arose the answering fires;
At once the loud alarum clashed from all her reeling spires;
From all the batteries of the Tower pealed loud the voice of fear;
And all the thousand masts of Thames sent back a louder cheer:
And from the furthest wards was heard the rush of hurrying feet,
And the broad streams of pikes and flags rushed down each roaring

street:

And broader still became the blaze, and louder still the din,
As fast from every village round the horse came spurring in :
And eastward straight, from wild Blackheath, the warlike errand went,
And roused in many an ancient hall the gallant squires of Kent.

Southward from Surrey's pleasant hills, flew those bright couriers

forth;

High on bleak Hampstead's swarthy moor they started for the north;
And on, and on, without a pause, untired they bounded still:
All night from tower to tower they sprang; they sprang from hill
to hill:

Till the proud peak unfurled the flag o'er Darwin's rocky dales,
Till, like volcanoes, flared to heaven the stormy hills of Wales,
Till twelve fair counties saw the blaze on Malvern's lonely height,
Till streamed in crimson, on the wind, the Wrekin's crest of light,
Till broad and fierce the star came forth on Ely's stately fane,
And town and hamlet rose in arms o'er all the boundless plain;
Till Belvoir's lordly terraces the sign to Lincoln sent,
And Lincoln sped the message on, o'er the wide vale of Trent:
Till Skiddaw saw the fire that burned on Gaunt's embattled pile,
And the red glare on Skiddaw roused the burghers of Carlisle.

Macaulay.

Ex. 120.

The Spanish Armada.

Clear shone the morn, the gale was fair,
When from Corunna's crowded port,

With many a cheerful shout and loud acclaim,
The huge Armada passed.

To England's shores their streamers point,
To England's shores their sails are spread;
They go to triumph o'er the sea-girt land,
And Rome has blest their arms.

Along the ocean's echoing verge,
Along the mountain range of rocks,
The clustering multitude behold their pomp,
And raise the votive prayer.

Commingling with the ocean's roar,
Ceaseless and hoarse their murmurs rise,
And soon they trust to see the winged bark
That bears good tidings home.

The watch-tower now in distance sinks,
And now Galicia's mountain rocks
Faint as the far-off clouds of evening lie,
And now they fade away.

Each, like some moving citadel,

On through the waves they sail sublime;
And now the Spaniards see the silvery cliffs,
Behold the sea-girt land.

O fools, to think that ever foe

Should triumph o'er that sea-girt land

O fools, to think that ever Britain's sons
Should wear the stranger's yoke!

For not in vain hath Nature reared

Around her coast those silvery cliffs;

For not in vain old Ocean spreads his waves

To guard his favourite isle!

On come her gallant Mariners!

What now avail Rome's boasted charms?

Where are the Spaniard's vaunts of eager wrath?

His hopes of conquest now?

And hark! the angry winds arise,

Old Ocean heaves his angry waves;

The winds, the waves, against the invaders fight,
To guard the sea-girt land.

Howling around his palace-towers,
The Spanish despot hears the storm;
He thinks upon his navies far away,
And boding doubts arise.

Long over Biscay's boisterous surge,
The watchman's aching eye shall strain;
Long shall he gaze, but never winged bark
Shall bear good tidings home.

Southey.

Ex. 121.

The Battle of Morgarten.

The wine-month shone in its golden prime,
And the red grapes clustering hung,

But a deeper sound, through the Switzer's clime,
Than the vintage music, rung—

A sound, through vaulted cave,
A sound, through echoing glen,

Like the hollow swell of a rushing wave;
"Twas the tread of steel-girt men !

And a trumpet, pealing wild and far,
'Midst the ancient rocks was blown,
Till the Alps replied to that voice of war
With a thousand of their own.

And through the forest glooms
Flashed helmets to the day,
And the winds were tossing plumes,
Like the larch-boughs in their play.

In Hasli's wild there was gleaming steel,
As the host of the Austrian passed;
And the Shreckhorn's rocks, with a savage peal,
Made mirth of his clarion's blast.

Up 'midst the Righi snows
The stormy march was heard,

With the charger's tramp, whence fire-sparks rose,
And the leader's gathering word.

But a band, the noblest band of all,

Through the rude Morgarten strait,

With blazoned streamers, and lances tall,
Moved onwards in princely state.
They came with heavy chains,
For the race despised so long-

But, am dst his Alp domains,

The herdsman's arm is strong!

The sun was reddening the clouds of morn
When they entered the rock defile,
And shrill as a joyous hunter's horn
Their bugles rung the while;
But on the misty height

Where the mountain people stood,
There was stillness, as of night,

When storms at distance brood:

There was stillness, as of deep dead night,
And a pause-but not of fear;

While the Switzers gazed on the gathering might
Of the hostile shield and spear.

On wound those columns bright
Between the lake and wood,

But they looked not to the misty height
Where the mountain people stood.

The pass was filled with their serried power,
All helmed and mail-arrayed,

And their steps had sounds like a thunder shower
In the rustling forest shade.

There were prince and crested knight,
Hemmed in by cliff and flood,

When a shout arose from the misty height
Where the mountain people stood.

And the mighty rocks came bounding down
Their startled foes among,

With a joyous whirl from the summit thrown—
Oh, the herdsman's arm is strong!

They came like Lauwine hurled
From Alp to Alp in play,

When the echoes shout through the

And the pines are borne away.

snowy world

The fir-woods crashed on the mountain side,
And the Switzers rushed from high

With a sudden charge on the flower and pride
Of the Austrian chivalry.

Like hunters of the deer,

They stormed the narrow dell,

And first in the shock, with Uri's spear,
Was the arm of William Tell!

There was tumult in the crowded strait,
And a cry of wild dismay,

And many a warrior met his fate
From a peasant's hand that day!

M

And the empire's banner then
From its place of waving free
Went down before the shepherd men,
The men of the Forest Sea.

With their pikes and massy clubs they brake
The cuirass and the shield,

And the war-horse dashed to the reddening lake
From the reapers of the field.

The field-but not of sheaves ;-
Proud crests and pennon lay

Strewn o'er it thick as the beech-wood leaves,
In the autumn tempest's way.

Oh! the sun in heaven fierce havoc viewed,
When the Austrian turned to fly,

And the brave in the trampling multitude
Had a fearful death to die!

And the leader of the war
At eve unhelmed was seen,

With a hurrying step on the wilds afar,
And a pale and troubled mien.

But the sons of the land which the freeman tills
Went back from the battle toil

To their cabin-home 'midst the deep green hills,
All burdened with royal spoil.

There were songs and festal fires
On the soaring Alps that night,

When children sprung to greet their sires
From the wild Morgarten fight.

Ex. 122.

Tell and the Apple.

Mrs. Hemans.

Full fifty paces from his child,

His cross-bow in his hand,

With lip compressed, and flashing eye,
TELL firmly took his stand.

Sure, full enough of pain and woe
This crowded earth has been;

But never, since the curse began,
A sadder sight was seen.

Then spake aloud the gallant boy,

[ocr errors]

Impatient of delay:

Shoot straight and quick, thine aim is sure;
Thou canst not miss to-day.

« PreviousContinue »