A thousand hearts beat happily; and when Soft eyes looked love to eyes which spake again, But, hush! hark! a deep sound strikes like a rising knell ! Did ye not hear it?—No: 'twas but the wind, On with the dance! let joy be unconfined; And nearer, clearer, deadlier than before! Arm! arm! it is-it is the cannon's opening roar! And there was mounting in hot haste: the steed, And the deep thunder peal on peal afar; While thronged the citizens with terror dumb, Or whispering with white lips, "The foe! they come! they come!" 4 And wild and high the "Cameron's Gathering "1 rose, The stirring memory of a thousand years, 5 And Evan's, Donald's fame rings in each clansman's ears! 6 And Ardennes waves above them her green leaves, 1 "Cameron's Gathering." It should be borne in mind that in Wellington's army were several regiments of Scottish Highlanders, and that "Cameron's Gathering" | is a battle tune, the "war note" of Lochiel (lo-keel'), the chief of the Cameron clan. 2 Albyn; i.e., Scotland. 8 Saxon foes; i.e., the Lowland Scotch, with whom the Highlanders were long at enmity. 4 pibroch (pē'brok), a bagpipe tune; and the reference is to the "Cameron's Gathering." 5 Evan's, Donald's. Evan and Donald are very common Christian names among the Highland clansmen. 6 Ardennes (pron. är-den'; but here, for sake of meter, ärʼden); i.e., the forest of Ardennes, and which the poet uses to typify Belgium. Ere evening to be trodden like the grass Which now beneath them, but above shall grow Of living valor, rolling on the foe, And burning with high hope, shall molder cold and low. Last noon beheld them full of lusty life, Last eve in Beauty's circle proudly gay: The thunderclouds close o'er it, which, when rent, Which her own clay shall cover, heaped and pent,1 Rider and horse, friend, foe,-in one red burial blent!2 BYRON. 106. - The Blind Men and the Elephant. It was six men of Indostan, (Though all of them were blind), That each by observation Might satisfy his mind. The first approached the elephant, 1 pent (= penned), confined. 2 blent = blended, commingled. Against his broad and sturdy side, The second, feeling of the tusk, So very round, and smooth, and sharp? Is very like a spear!" The third approached the animal, The squirming trunk within his hands, Thus boldly up he spake: "I see," quoth he, "the elephant Is very like a snake!" The fourth reached out his eager hand, And felt about the knee: "What most this wondrous beast is like, Is very plain," quoth he: ""Tis clear enough the elephant Is very like a tree!" The fifth, who chanced to touch the ear, Said: "E'en the blindest man Can tell what this resembles most: Deny the fact who can, This marvel of an elephant Is very like a fan!" The sixth no sooner had begun Than, seizing on the swinging tail "I see," quoth he, "the elephant And so these men of Indostan Disputed loud and long, Each in his own opinion Exceeding stiff and strong; Though each was partly in the right, And all were in the wrong. SAXE 107.-Ring Out, Wild Bells. Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky, Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow; The year is going, let him go: Ring out the false, ring in the true. Ring out the grief that saps the mind For those that here we see no more; Ring out the feud of rich and poor, Ring in redress to all mankind. |