VII. RECITATIVE. "Lo! Granta waits to lead her blooming band, Not obvious, nor obtrusive, she No vulgar praise, no venal incense flings; She reveres herself and thee. With modest pride to grace thy youthful brow, The laureate wreath, that Cecil wore, she brings, And to thy just, thy gentle hand, Submits the fasces of her sway, While spirits blest above and men below VIII. GRAND CHORUS. "Thro' the wild waves as they roar, With watchful eye and dauntless mien, And gilds the horrors of the deep.” THE FATAL SISTERS. AN ODE. FROM THE NORSE TONGUE. NOW the storm begins to lower, (Haste, the loom of hell prepare,) Iron sleet of arrowy shower Hurtles in the darken'd air. Glitt❜ring lances are the loom, Where the dusky warp we strain, Weaving many a soldier's doom, Orkney's woe, and Randver's bane. See the grisly texture grow! ('Tis of human entrails made) And the weights, that play below, Each a gasping warrior's head. Shafts for shuttles, dipt in gore, Sword, that once a monarch bore, Mista, black terrific maid, Ere the ruddy sun be set, Pikes must shiver, javelins sing, Blade with clattering buckler meet, Hauberk crash, and helmet ring. (Weave the crimson web of war) Let us go, and let us fly, Where our friends the conflict share, Where they triumph, where they die. As the paths of fate we tread, Wading through th' ensanguined field, Gondula, and Geira, spread O'er the youthful king your shield. We the reins to slaughter give, Ours to kill, and ours to spare : Spite of danger he shall live, (Weave the crimson web of war.) They, whom once the desert-beach Pent within its bleak domain, Soon their ample sway shall stretch O'er the plenty of the plain. Low the dauntless earl is laid, Gored with many a gaping wound: Fate demands a nobler head; Soon a king shall bite the ground. Long his loss shall Eirin weep, Horror covers all the heath, Clouds of carnage blot the sun. Sisters, weave the web of death; Sisters, cease; the work is done. Hail the task, and hail the hands! Triumph to the younger king. Mortal, thou that hear'st the tale, Sisters, hence with spurs of speed: Each her thundering falchion wield; Each bestride her sable steed. Hurry, hurry, to the field! |