That it might not be extinguish'd, "Farewell!” said he, “Minnehaha ! EXCELSIOR. The shades of night were falling fast, His brow was sad; his eye, beneath, And like a silver clarion rung The accents of that unknown tongue, In happy homes he saw the light Of household fires gleam warm and bright; "Try not to pass!" the old man said; "Dark lowers the tempest overhead; The roaring torrent is deep and wide!" "Oh! stay," the maiden said, "and rest "Beware the pine-tree's wither'd branch! This was the peasant's last good-night; At break of day, as heavenward A voice cried, through the startled air, A traveller-by the faithful hound, There, in the twilight cold and gray, A SCOTT AND THE VETERAN. N old and crippled veteran to the War Department came, He sought the Chief who led him, on many a field of fame — The Chief who shouted "Forward!" where'er his banner rose, And bore its stars in triumph behind the flying foes. "Have you forgotten, General," the battered soldier cried, "The days of eighteen hundred twelve, when I was at your side? Have you forgotten Johnson, who fought at Lundy's Lane? "T is true, I'm old and pension'd, but I want to fight again." "Have I forgotten?" said the Chief; "my brave old soldier, no! And here's the hand I gave you then, and let it tell you so; But you have done your share, my friend; you're crippled, old, and gray, And we have need of younger arms and fresher blood to-day." "But, General," cried the veteran, a flush upon his brow, "The very men who fought with us, they say, are traitors now; They've torn the flag of Lundy's Lane, our old red, white, and blue, And while a drop of blood is left, I'll show that drop is true. "I'm not so weak but I can strike, and I've a good old gun, 'God bless you, comrade!" said the Chief-"God bless your loyal heart! But younger men are in the field, and claim to have a part; They'll plant our sacred banner firm in each rebellious town, And woe, henceforth, to any hand that dares to pull it down!" "But, General," still persisting, the weeping veteran cried, "If they should fire on Pickens, let the colonel in command "I'm ready, General; so you let a post to me be given, Where Washington can look at me, as he looks down from heaven, And say to Putnam at his side, or, may be, General Wayne — "There stands old Billy Johnson, who fought at Lundy's Lane.' "And when the fight is raging hot, before the traitors fly- NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. E is fallen! We may now pause before that splendid pro Hdigy, which whose frown terrified the glance its magnificence attracted. Grand, gloomy, and peculiar, he sat upon the throne, a sceptred hermit, wrapt in the solitude of his own originality. A mind, bold, independent, and decisive-a will, despotic in its dictates an energy that distanced expedition, and a conscience pliable to every touch of interest, marked the outline of this extraordinary character the most extraordinary, perhaps, that, in the annals of this world, ever rose, or reigned, or fell. Flung into life in the midst of a revolution that quickened every energy of a people who acknowledge no superior, he commenced his course, a stranger by birth, and a scholar by charity! With no friend but his sword, and no fortune but his talents, he rushed into the lists where rank and wealth and genius had arrayed themselves, and competition fled from him as from the glance of destiny. He knew no motive but interest-he acknowledged no criterion but success - he worshipped no God but ambition, and, with an Eastern devotion, he knelt at the shrine of his idolatry. Subsidiary to this, there was no creed that he did not profess, there was no opinion that he did not promulgate; in the hope of a dynasty, he upheld the Crescent; for the sake of a divorce, he bowed before the Cross; the orphan of St. Louis, he became the adopted child of the Republic; and, with a parricidal ingratitude, on the ruins both of the throne and tribune, he reared the throne of his despotism. A professed Catholic, he imprisoned the Pope; a pretended patriot, he impoverished the country; and, in the name of Brutus, he grasped without remorse and wore without shame the diadem of the Cæsars! Through this pantomime of policy, fortune played the clown to his caprices. At his touch, crowns crumbled, beggars reigned, systems vanished, the wildest theories took the color of his whim, and all that was venerable, and all that was novel, changed places with the rapidity of a drama. Even apparent defeat assumed the appearance of victory - his flight from Egypt confirmed his destiny - ruin itself only elevated him to empire. But, if his fortune was great, his genius was transcendent; decision flashed upon his counsels; and it was the same to decide and to perform. To inferior intellects his combinations appeared perfectly impossible, his plans perfectly impracticable; but, in his hands, simplicity marked their development, and success vindicated their adoption. His person partook the character of his mind—if the one never yielded in the cabinet, the other never bent in the field. Nature had no obstacle that he did not surmount-space no opposition that he did not spurn; and whether amid Alpine rocks, Arabian sands, or Polar snows, he seemed proof against peril, and empowered with ubiquity! The whole continent trembled at beholding the audacity of his designs, and the miracle of their execution. Skepticism bowed to the prodigies of his performance; romance assumed the air of history; nor was there aught too incredible for belief, or too fanciful for expectation, when the world saw a subaltern of Corsica waving his imperial flag over her most ancient capitals. All the visions of antiquity became commonplaces in his contemplation; kings were his people - nations were his outposts; and he disposed of courts, and crowns, and camps, and churches, and cabinets, as if they were titular dignitaries of the chess-board! Amid all these changes, he stood immutable as adamant. It mattered little whether in the field or in the drawing-room -with the mob or the levee-wearing the Jacobin bonnet or the iron crown-banishing a Braganza, or espousing a Hapsburg- dictating peace on a raft to the Czar of Russia, or contemplating defeat at the gallows of Leipsic - he was still the same military despot! In this wonderful combination, his affectations of literature |