THE BARD Through patien: sufferance; and doth apprehend, Or stubborn heart, is but to disallow The speedy means to health; salve heals no sore, Best knows what's best for him, what 's best for me: Howe’er, let me not boast, nor yet repine; THE BARD. — Gray. The following ode is founded on a tradition current in Wales, that Edward the First, when he completed the conquest of that country, ordered all the bards that fell into his hands to be put to death. “RUIN seize thee, ruthless king! Confusion on thy banners wait ! Though fanned by conquest's crimson wing, They mock the air with idle state. Helm nor hauberk's twisted mail, Nor e'en thy virtues, tyrant, shall avail To save thy secret soul from nightly fears, On a rock whose haughty brow Frowns o'er old Conway's foaming flood, Robed in the sable garb of woe, With haggard eyes the poet stood Streamed like a meteor to the troubled air), “Hark, how each giant oak, and desert cave, To highborn Hoel's harp, or soft Llewellyn's lay. That hushed the stormy main; Brave Urien sleeps upon his craggy bed; Mountains, ye mourn in vain Modred, whose magic song Made huge Plinlimmon bow his cloud-topped head !. Sineared with gore, and ghastly pale: THE BARD. Dear as the ruddy drops that warm my heart, I see them sit! they linger yet, Avengers of their native land: With me in dreadful harmony they join, 331 And weave with bloody hands the tissue of thy lire! " "Weave the warp, and weave the woof, The winding-sheet of Edward's race; Mark the year, and mark the night, When Severn shall reëcho with affright The shrieks of death through Berkeley's roofs tha ring, Shrieks of an agonizing king! 1 She-wolf of France,2 with unrelenting fangs, Amazement in his van, with flight combined; Mighty victor, mighty lord, Low on his funeral couch he lies! 1 Edward the Second, cruelly butchered in Berkeley castle. 2 Isabel of France, queen of Edward the Second. 3 Triumphs of Edward the Third in France. 4 Death of that king, abandoned by his children, and even robbed in his last moments by his courtiers. Is the sable warrior1 fled? Thy son is gone.. He rests among the dead. Fair laughs the morn, and soft the zephyr blows, Youth on the prow, and Pleasure at the helm ;2 That, hushed in grim repose, expects his evening prey. "Fill high the sparkling bowl, The rich repast prepare; Reft of a crown, he yet may share the feast : Close by the regal chair Fell thirst and famine scowl A baleful smile upon their baffled guest.3 Heard ye the din of battle bray, Lance to lance, and horse to horse? Long years of havoc urge their destined course, And through the kindred squadrons mow their way. 4 Ye towers of Julius, London's lasting shame, With many a foul and midnight murder fed,5 1 Edward, the Black Prince, dead some time before his father. 2 Magnificence of Richard the Second's reign. 3 Richard the Second, as we are told by all the older writers, was starved to death. 4 Ruinous civil wars of York and Lancaster. 5 Henry the Sixth, George, Duke of Clarence, Edward the Fifth, Richard, Duke of York, &c. believed to be murdered secretly in the Tower of London. The oldest part of that structure is attributed to Julius Cæsar. 1 THE BARD. Revere his consort's 1 faith, his father's 2 fame, Twined with her blushing foe 4 we spread: Wallows beneath the thorny shade. 333 Now, brothers, bending o'er the accursed loom, Stamp we our vengeance deep, and ratify his doom! "Edward, lo! to sudden fate (Weave we the woof. The thread is spun.) Leave me unblessed, unpitied, here to mourn! All hail, ye genuine kings! Britannia's issue, hail ! 8 1 Margaret of Anjou, a woman of heroic spirit, who struggled hard to save her husband and her crown. 2 Henry the Fifth. 3 Henry the Sixth, very near being canonized. The line of Lancaster had no right of inheritance to the crown. 4 The white and red roses, devices of York and Lancaster. 5 The silver boar was the badge of Richard the Third; whence he was usually known in his own time by the name of the Boar. 6 Eleanor of Castile died a few years after the conquest of Wales. 7 It was the common belief of the Welsh nation that king Arthur was still alive in Fairy-land, and would return again to reign over Britain. 8 Both Medin and Taliessin had prophesied that the Welsh should regain the sovereignty of this island; which seemed to be accomplished in the House of Tudor. |