Зображення сторінки
PDF
ePub

But redder yet that light shall glow,
On Linden's hills of stained snow;
And bloodier yet, the torrent flow
Of Iser, rolling rapidly.

'Tis morn; but scarce yon level sun
Can pierce the war-clouds, rolling dun,
Where furious Frank, and fiery Hun,

Shout in their sulph'rous canopy.

The combat deepens. On, ye brave,
Who rush to glory, or the grave!
Wave, Munich, all thy banners wave,

And charge with all thy chivalry!

Few, few, shall part, where many meet!
The snow shall be their winding sheet,
And every turf, beneath their feet,

Shall be a soldier's sepulchre.

Extract from the PLEASURES OF HOPE, 4to Edition, by THOMAS
CAMPBELL, Esq.

TILL Hymen brought his love-delighted hour,

There dwelt no joy in Eden's rosy bow'r!
In vain the viewless Seraph, ling`ring there,
At starry midnight, charm'd the silent air;
In vain the wild bird carol'd on the steep,
To hail the sun, slow-wheeling from the deep;
In vain, to soothe the solitary shade,
Aerial notes in mingling pleasure play'd;
The summer wind that shook the spangled tree,
The whispering wave, the murmer of the bee ;-
Still slowly pass'd the melancholy day,

And still the stranger wist not where to stray,-
The world was sad! the garden was a wild!
And man, the hermit, sigh'd-till woman smil'd!

True, the sad power to generous hearts may bring
Delirious anguish on his fiery wing!
Barr'd from delight by Fate's untimely hand,
By wealthless lot, or pitiless command;
Or doom'd to gaze on beauties that adorn
The smile of triumph, or the frown of scorn;
While Memory watches o'er the sad review
Of joys that faded like the morning dew;
VOL. XLIV.
зн

Peace

Peace may depart-and life and nature seem
A barren path-a wildness, and a dream!

But, can the noble mind for ever brood,
The willing victim of a weary mood,
On heartless cares that squander life away,
And cloud young genius bright'ning into day?-
Shame to the coward thought that e'er betray'd
The noon of manhood to a myrtle shade!
If Hope's creative spirit cannot raise
One trophy sacred to thy future days,

Scorn the dull crowd that haunt the gloomy shrine
Of hopeless love to murmur and repine!
But, should a sigh of milder mood express
Thy heart-warm wishes, true to happiness,
Should Heav'n's fair harbinger delight to pour
Her blissful visions on thy pensive hour,
No tear to blot thy memory's pictur'd page,
No fears but such as fancy can assuage;
Though thy wild heart some hapless hour may miss,
The peaceful tenor of unvaried bliss,
(For love pursues an ever devious race,
True to the winding lineaments of grace);
Yet still may Hope her talisman employ
To snatch from Heaven anticipated joy,
And all her kindred energies impart
That burn the brightest in the purest heart!

When first the Rhodian's mimic art array'd
The Queen of Beauty in her Cyprian shade,
The happy master mingled on his piece

Each look that charm'd him in the fair of Greece;
To faultless Nature true, he stole a grace
From every finer form and sweeter face;
And, as he sojourn'd on the Ægean isles,

Woo'd all their love, and treasur'd all their smiles;
Then glow'd the tints, pure, precious, and refin'd,
And mortal charms seem'd heav'nly when combin'd!
Love on the picture smil'd! Expression pour'd
Her mingling spirit there-and Greece ador'd!

So thy fair hand, enamour'd Fancy! gleans
The treasur'd pictures of a thousand scenes!
Thy pencil traces on the lover's thought
Some cottage-home, from towns and toil remote,
Where love and lore may claim alternate hours,
With peace embosom'd in Idalian bow'rs!

Remote

Remote from busy life's bewilder'd way,
O'er all his heart shall taste and beauty sway!
Free on the sunny slope, or winding shore,
With hermit steps to wander and 'adore!
There shall be love, when genial morn appears,
Like pensive beauty smiling in her tears,
To watch the bright'ning roses of the sky,
And muse on Nature with a poet's eye! -

The woods, and waves, and murm'ring winds asleep,
And when the Sun's last splendour lights the deep,
When fairy harps th' Hesperian planet hail,
And the lone cuckoo sighs along the vale,
His path shall be where streamy mountains swell
Their shadowy grandeur o'er the narrow dell,
Where mouldering piles and forests intervene,
Mingling with darker tints the living green;
No circling hills his ravish'd eye to bound,
Heaven, earth, and ocean, blazing all around!

The moon is up-the watch-tow'r dimly burns-
And down the vale his sober step returns;
But pauses oft, as winding rocks convey
The still sweet fall of music far away;
And oft he lingers from his home awhile,
To watch the dying notes! -and start, and smile!

Let winter come! let polar spirits sweep
The dark'ning world, and tempest-troubled deep!
Though boundless snows the wither'd heath deform,
And the dim sun scarce wanders through the storm;
Yet shall the smile of social love repay,

With mental light, the melancholy day!
And, when its short and sullen noon is o'er,
The ice-chain'd waters slumb'ring on the shore,
How bright the faggots in his little hall

Blaze on the hearth, and warm the pictur'd wall!

How blest he names, in love's familiar tone,
The kind fair friend, by Nature mark'd his own;
And, in the waveless mirror of his mind,
Views the fleet years of pleasure left behind,
Since Anna's empire o'er his heart began!
Since first he call'd her his before the holy man!

Trim the gay taper in his rustic dome, And light the wint ry paradise of home: And let the half uncurtain'd window hail Some way-worn man benighted in the vale!

2 H 2

Now

Now, while the moaning night-wind rages high,
As sweep the shot-stars down the troubled sky,
While fiery hosts in Heav'n's wide circle play,
And bathe in livid light the milky way,

Safe from the storm, the meteor, and the shower,
Some pleasing page shall charm the solemn hour-
With pathos shall command, with wit beguile,
A generous tear of anguish, or a smile-
Thy woes, Arion! and thy simple tale,
O'er all the heart shall triumph and prevail!
Charm'd as they read the verse too sadly true,
How gallant Albert, and his weary crew,

Heav'd all their guns, their foundering bark to save,
And toil'd-and shriek'd—and perish'd on the wave!

Yes, at the dead of night, by Lonna's steep,
The seaman's cry was heard along the deep;
There, on his funeral waters, dark and wild,
The dying father blest his darling child!
Oh! Mercy, shield her innocence, he cried,
Spent on the pray'r his bursting heart, and died!

Or will they learn how generous worth sublimes
The robber Moor, and pleads for all his crimes?
How poor Amelia kiss'd, with many a tear,
His hand blood-stain'd, but ever, ever dear!
Hung on the tortur'd bosom of her lord,
And wept, and pray'd perdition from his sword!
Nor sought in vain! at that heart-piercing cry
The strings of nature crack'd with agony!
He, with delirious laugh, the dagger hurl'd,
And burst the ties that bound him to the world!

Turn from his dying words, that smite with steel, The shuddering thoughts, or wind them on the wheelTurn to the gentler melodies that suit

Thalia's harp, or Pan's Arcadian lute;

Or, down the stream of Truth's historic page,
From clime to clime descend, from age to age!

Yet there, perhaps, may darker scenes obtrude, Than Fancy fashions in her wildest mood; There shall he pause, with horrent brow, to rate What millions died-that Cæsar might be great! Or learn the fate that bleeding thousands bore, March'd by their Charles to Dneiper's swampy shore;

Faint in his wounds, and shivering in the blast,
The Swedish soldier sunk—and groan'd his last!
File after file, the stormy showers benumb,
Freeze every standard-sheet, and hush the drum!
Horsemen and horse confess'd the bitter pang,
And arms and warriors fell with hollow clang!
Yet, ere he sunk in Nature's last repose,
Ere life's warm torrent to the fountain froze,
The dying man to Sweden turn'd his eye,
Thought of his home, and clos'd it with a sigh!
Imperial pride look'd sullen on his plight,
And Charles beheld-nor shudder'd at the sight!

ch of the Host's Son in HERMAN and DOROTHEA. From the German.

(Original)

WHEN thus

Replied the noble youth, collected firm

In virtue's dignity.

"That man indeed

"Were base and heartless, whose obdurate breast
"Were steel'd against his fellow-creatures' wrongs,
"In these tempestuous times.-Senseless the wretch
"That for the welfare of his father's land

"Feels not, his anxious passions watch alarm'd-
"For me the actings and the sight to-day
"Lay hold upon my soul-I walk'd abroad,
"And o'er the spacious plains beheld,
"Cluster'd with vines, the terminating hills;
"The sunny corn-field waved its granary
"Ripeness, that woo'd the sickle--and the trees
"Held out their loaded arms, with promise fair
"Of fruitful treasure for the harvest store.
"But woe to fruitful fields and peaceful plains,
"The spoiler is at hand-

-True, the broad Rhine

"Protects us with his flood-but what are floods,
"Or mountains, to the dreadful enemy
"Whose coming is a whirlwind-

-Old and young

"The people rise-to battle thousands rush
"On thousands to resist th' invading foe,
"Reckless of death and danger-fits it now
"A German quietly to rest at home,
"Or hope the general danger to escape
"Believe me, mother, I am griev'd to find,
"In the last levy of our gallant townsmen,

"

?

My name exempt-true I'm your only son; "The custom of our house is flourishing,

"Our

« НазадПродовжити »