Never durst poet touch a pen to write, SHAKSPEARE. CLXXIV. FROM LALLA ROOKII. 1 BUT see he starts-what heard he then? 2. He said—and, light as bridegrooms bound Together, at that cry accurst, Had from their sheaths, like sunbeams, burst, Near and more near its echoings Peal through the chasms-Oh! who that then With their swords grasped, their eyes of flame 3. He read their thoughts-they were his own— Without one victim to our shades, One Moslem heart, where, buried deep, Thou scorn'st the inglorious sacrifice. Who sinks entombed in Moslem dead!" MOORE. CLXXV.-MOLOCH AND SATAN, BEFORE THE POWERS OF 1. ONE there was whose loud defying tongue Half sprang his eyes, that cast a flamy ray. 2. "This comes," at length burst from the furious chief, "This comes of dastard counsels! Here behold The fruits of wily cunning! the relief Which coward policy would fain unfold To soothe the powers that warred with heaven of old. O wise! O potent! O sagacious snare! And lo! our prince-the mighty and the bold, There stands he, spell-struck, gaping at the air While heaven subverts his reign and plants her standard there." 3. Here as recovered, Satan fixed his eye Full on the speaker-dark as it was stern- And stood like one whom weightiest thoughts concern. His soul to rage. "Behold, behold," he cried, The spear of just revenge, and shrinks, by man defied." 4. Thus ended Moloch, and his burning tongue As loud he thus harangued the sanguinary horde: 5. "Ye powers of hell, I am no coward. I proved this of old. Who led your forces against the armies of Jehovah? Who coped with Ithuriel, and the thunders of the Almighty? Who, when stunned and confused ye lay on the burning lake, who first awoke and collected your scattered powers? Lastly, who led you across the unfathomable abyss to this delightful world, and established that reign here which now totters to its base? How, therefore, dares yon treacherous fiend to cast a stain on Satan's bravery? He, who preys only on the defenseless-who sucks the blood of infants, and delights only in acts of ignoble cruelty and unequal contention! Away with the boaster who never joins in action; but, like a cormorant, hovers over the field, to feed upon the wounded and overwhelm the dying. True bravery is as remote from rashness as from hesitation. Let us counsel coolly, but let us execute our counseled purposes determinedly. In power, we have learned by that experiment which lost us heaven, that we are inferior to the thunder-bearer: in subtlety-in subtlety alone, we are his equals." WHITE. CLXXVI. THE FIREMAN. 1. HOARSE wintry blasts a solemn requiem sung Upon whose bier The velvet pall of midnight had been flung, And nature mourned through one wide hemisphere And half the world in dreamy slumbers lay Lost in the maze of sweet forgetfulness, There broke a sound so dread and drear- And filled a thousand throbbing hearts with fear. 2. Hark! the faithful watchman's cry See! yon glare upon the sky, The deep-mouthed bells, with rapid tone, Affrighted silence now has flown, And sounds of terror freight the chilly gale! At the first note of this discordant din, The gallant fireman from his slumber's us; arts Reckless of toil and danger, if he win The tributary meed of grateful hearts. The lurid flames, with horrid glare, 4. Sudden a shriek assails his heart- And 'gainst the tottering wall, The ponderous ladder rears; While blazing fragments round him fall, 5. His sinewy arm, with one rude crash, And heedless of the startling din- The admiring crowd, with hopes and fears, In breathless expectation stands, CLXXVII.-THE DYING BRIGAND. 1 SHE stood before the dying man, Look dastards !-how the brave can die- 2. By his blood you have tracked him to his lair!— Would you bid the spirit part? He that durst harm one single hair I can not weep, for my brain is dry— But my aim is sure, and the shaft may fly,- 3. Yet leave me, while dim life remains, To kiss away those gory stains, 4 His was the power that held in thrall, How he avenged his slighted worth, 5. His spirit lives in the mountain breath, KIDD.-30 |