Beneath the covert of your cloak,

Protected from this cold damp air!'

She answered, soon as she the question heard, 'A simple burden, sir-a little singing-bird.'

And, thus continuing, she said,

'I had a son, who many a day Sailed on the seas, but he is dead;

In Denmark he was cast away;

And I have travelled weary miles to see

If aught which he had owned might still remain for me.

'The bird and cage they both were his

:

'Twas my son's bird; and neat and trim He kept it: many voyages

This singing-bird had gone with him:

When last he sailed, he left the bird behind,

From bodings, as might be, that hung upon his mind.

'He to a fellow-lodger's care

Had left it, to be watched and fed,
And pipe its song in safety;-there
I found it when my son was dead;
And now, God help me for my little wit!

I bear it with me, sir;-he took so much delight in it.'

WATERLOO. (LORD BYRON.)

THERE was a sound of revelry by night,
And Belgium's capital' had gathered then
Her beauty and her chivalry, and bright
The lamps shone o'er fair women and brave men.
A thousand hearts beat happily; and when
Music arose with its voluptuous swell,

Soft eyes looked love to eyes which spake again,
And all went merry as a marriage-bell :

But hush! hark!-a deep sound strikes like a rising knell !

1 Belgium's capital. On June 15, 1815, the Duchess of Richmond gave a ball in Brussels. During the evening news arrived that Napoleon was marching on the town, so that the officers present had hurriedly to leave the ball-room to get their men under arms. Next day an engagement was fought at Quatre Bras. The great battle of Waterloo did not take place till Sunday, the 18th.

Did ye not hear it?-No; 'twas but the wind,
Or the car rattling o'er the stony street;
On with the dance! let joy be unconfined;
No sleep till morn when youth and pleasure meet,
To chase the glowing hours with flying feet :—
But hark! that heavy sound breaks in once more,
As if the clouds its echo would repeat;

And nearer, clearer, deadlier than before!-
Arm! arm it is-it is-the cannon's opening roar !

Within a windowed niche of that high hall
Sate Brunswick's fated chieftain : 1 he did hear
That sound the first amidst the festival,
And caught its tone with death's prophetic ear;
And when they smiled because he deemed it near,
His heart more truly knew that peal too well
Which stretched his father on a bloody bier,
And roused the vengeance blood alone could quell :
He rushed into the field, and foremost fighting fell.

Ah! then and there was hurrying to and fro, And gathering tears, and tremblings of distress, And cheeks all pale, which but an hour ago Blushed at the praise of their own loveliness; And there were sudden partings, such as press The life from out young hearts; and choking sighs Which ne'er might be repeated;-who could guess If ever more should meet those mutual eyes? Since upon night so sweet such awful morn could rise.

1 Brunswick's fated chieftain, the Duke of Brunswick, an officer under Wellington. He was killed in the battle of Quatre Bras. His father, who is referred to, was killed in the battle of Jena, 1806.

And there was mounting in hot haste: the steed,
The mustering squadron, and the clattering car
Went pouring forward with impetuous speed,
And swiftly forming in the ranks of war;
And the deep thunder, peal on peal afar;
And near, the beat of the alarming drum
Roused up the soldier ere the morning star;
While thronged the citizens with terror dumb,
Or whispering with white lips-The foe! They come !
they come !'

And wild and high the Camerons' gathering' rose!
The war-note of Lochiel, which Albyn's hills 2
Have heard, and heard, too, have her Saxon foes-
How in the noon of night that pibroch thrills,
Savage and shrill! But with the breath which fills
Their mountain-pipe, so fill the mountaineers
With the fierce native daring which instils

The stirring memory of a thousand years:

And Evan's, Donald's fame,3 rings in each clansman's ears!

And Ardennes 4 waves above them her green leaves, Dewy with nature's tear-drops, as they pass,

Grieving, if aught inanimate ere grieves,

Over the unreturning brave-alas!

Ere evening to be trodden like the grass

1 Camerons' gathering, the warlike notes on the Scottish bagpipe, calling together the Cameron Highlanders (79th Regiment).

2 Albyn's hills, the Highlands of Scotland.

3 Evan's, Donald's fame. Sir Evan Cameron and his grandson Donald were well-known Highland chiefs, noted for their loyalty to the Stuarts.

4 Ardennes (pronounced Arden'), a forest between Brussels and Waterloo.

Which now beneath them, but above shall grow

In its next verdure, when this fiery mass

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,

Last eve in Beauty's circle proudly gay,

The midnight brought the signal-sound of strife-
The morn, the marshalling in arms—the day,
Battle's magnificently stern array!

The thunder-clouds close o'er it; which when rent,
The earth is cover'd thick with other clay;

Which her own clay shall cover, heap'd and pent, Rider and horse-friend, foe-in one red burial blent!

The thunder-clouds, &c. On the morning of the battle a thunderstorm broke over both armies.