"WHO WOULD BE DOOMED TO GAZE UPON A SKY WITHOUT A CLOUD OR SUN?"-BYRON. NO WORDS SUFFICE THE SECRET SOUL TO SHOW, NIGHT BEFORE THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO. 197 And wild and high the "Cameron's Gathering" rose, Have heard and heard, too, have her Saxon foes: And Evan's, Donald's fame rings in each clansman's ears. And Ardennes waves above them her green leaves, Ere evening to be trodden like the grass Of living valour, rolling on the foe, And burning with high hope, shall moulder cold and low! Last noon beheld them full of lusty life— Battle's magnificently-stern array! The thunder-clouds close o'er it, which, when rent, [GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON. From "Childe Harold," Canto III., FOR TRUTH DENIES ALL ELOQUENCE TO WOE."-BYRON. "THE MIND THAT BROODS O'ER GUILTY WOES IS LIKE THE SCORPION, GIRT BY FIRE."-BYRON. "FREEDOM'S BATTLE, ONCE BEGUN, THOUGH BAFFLED OFT, IS EVER WON."-LORD BYRON. THE BEINGS OF THE MIND ARE NOT OF CLAY."-LORD BYRON. THE BURIAL OF SIR JOHN MOORE. THE BURIAL OF SIR JOHN MOORE.* JOT a drum was heard, not a funeral note, As his corse to the ramparts we hurried; We buried him darkly, at dead of night, No useless coffin. enclosed his breast, Few and short were the prayers we said, But we steadfastly gazed on the face that was dead, We thought, as we hollowed his narrow bed, That the foe and the stranger would tread o'er his head, Lightly they'll talk of the spirit that's gone, * The battle of Corunna was fought between the British under Sir John MAN THOU PENDULUM BETWIXT A SMILE AND TEAR."-BYRON. "DEVOTION WAFTS THE MIND ABOVE; BUT HEAVEN ITSELF DESCENDS IN LOVE."-LORD BYRON. "HONEY FROM SILK-WORMS WHO CAN GATHER, OR SILK FROM THE YELLOW-BEE?"-P. b. Shelley. THE GOOD WANT POWER BUT TO WEEP BARREN TEARS."-SHELLEY. TO THE NIGHT. 199 But little he'll reck if they let him sleep on In the grave where a Briton has laid him. But half of our heavy task was done When the clock struck the hour for retiring; Slowly and sadly we laid him down, From the field of his fame fresh and gory; But we left him alone with his glory. [Rev. CHARLES WOLFE, born at Dublin 1791, died 1823, owes his fame to this one brief but touchingly-beautiful composition, of which any poet might have been proud. Some of Wolfe's other lyrics, however, are characterized by intense pathos and great power of expression. He died of consumption, hastened by incessant clerical labour, in his thirty-third year.] "THE MOVELESS PILLAR OF A MOUNTAIN'S WEIGHT IS ACTIVE, LIVING SPIRIT."-P. B. SHELLEY. TO THE NIGHT. WIFTLY walk over the western wave, Out of the misty Eastern cave, Wrap thy form in a mantle gray, Blind with thine hair the eyes of day, Kiss her until she is wearied out; "YOUTH'S SMOOTH OCEAN, SMILING TO BETRAY."-SHELI EY. "BENEFITS AND MEEK SUBMISSION TAME THE FIERCEST AND THE MIGHTIEST."-P. B. SHELLEY. Then wander o'er city, and sea, and land, When I arose and saw the dawn, When light rode high, and the dew was gone, Thy brother Death came, and cried, Would'st thou me? Thy sweet child Sleep, the filmy-eyed, Murmured like a noon-tide bee, "THE GHASTLY PEOPLE OF THE REALM OF DREAM."-SHELLEY. 200 "NECESSITY! THOU MOTHER OF THE WORLD."-SHELLEY. "SPEECH CREATED THOUGHT, WHICH IS THE MEASURE OF THE UNIVERSE."-PERCY B. SHELLEY. 66 THE FOUNTAINS MINGLE WITH THE RIVER ;"-(SHELLEY) [PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY, 1792-1824, author of "Queen Mab," "Hellas," the tragedy of "The Cenci," "Rosalind and Helen," "AlasAdonais, an elegy in memory of the poet Keats," and numerous other works, all displaying a wonderful wealth of imagination and an apparently boundless command of richly poetic language.] tor," "THE HARMONIOUS MIND POURS ITSELF FORTH IN ALL-PROPHETIC SONG."-PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY. "THERE ARE DEEDS WHICH HAVE NO FORM, SUFFERINGS WHICH HAVE NO TONGUE."-p. b. SHELLEY. THE CLOUD. BRING fresh showers for the thirsting flowers, I bear light shades for the leaves when laid From my wings are shaken the dews that waken When rocked to rest on their mother's breast, I wield the flail of the flashing hail, I sift the snow on the mountains below, "" AND THE RIVERS WITH THE OCEAN."-SHELLEY. |