Within a windowed niche of that high hall Sate Brunswick's fated chieftain; 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?
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 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 rings in each clansman's ears!
And Ardennes waves above them her green leaves, Dewy with Nature's tear-drops, as they pass, Grieving, if aught inanimate e'er grieves,
Over the unreturning brave,—alas !
Ere evening to be trodden like the grass
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 covered thick with other clay,
Which her own clay shall cover, heaped and pent, Rider and horse,—friend, foe,—in one red burial blent !
1 Sir Evan Cameron, and his descendant Donald, the "gentle Lochiel" of the "forty-five."
HYMN BEFORE SUNRISE, IN THE VALE OF CHAMOUNY.
HAST thou a charm to stay the morning-star In his steep course? So long he seems to pause On thy bald awful head, O sovran Blanc ! The Arve and Arveiron at thy base Rave ceaselessly; but thou, most awful form! Risest from forth thy silent sea of pines, How silently! Around thee and above Deep is the air and dark, substantial, black, An ebon mass: methinks thou piercest it, As with a wedge! But when I look again, It is thine own calm home, thy crystal shrine, Thy habitation from eternity!
O dread and silent mount! I gazed upon thee, Till thou, still present to the bodily sense,
Didst vanish from my thought: entranced in prayer, I worshipped the Invisible alone.
Yet, like some sweet beguiling melody,
So sweet, we know not we are listening to it,
Thou, the meanwhile, wast blending with my thought,
Yea, with my life and life's own secret joy : Till the dilating soul, enrapt, transfused
Into the mighty vision passing there,
As in her natural form, swelled vast to Heaven. Awake, my soul! not only passive praise Thou owest! not alone these swelling tears, Mute thanks and secret ecstacy! Awake, Voice of sweet song! Awake, my heart, awake! Green vales and icy cliffs, all join my hymn. Thou first and chief, sole sovran of the vale! O struggling with the darkness all the night, And visited all night by troops of stars,
Or when they climb the sky or when they sink: Companion of the morning-star at dawn, Thyself earth's rosy star, and of the dawn Co-herald wake, O wake, and utter praise! Who sank thy sunless pillars deep in earth? Who filled thy countenance with rosy light? Who made thee parent of perpetual streams? And you, ye five wild torrents' fiercely glad! Who called you forth from night and utter death, From dark and icy caverns called you forth Down those precipitous, black, jagged rocks, For ever sheltered, and the same for ever? Who gave you your invulnerable life,
Your strength, your speed, your fury, and your joy, Unceasing thunder, and eternal foam ?
And who commanded (and the silence came), Here let the billows stiffen, and have rest?
Ye ice-falls! ye that from the mountain's brow Adown enormous ravines slope amain-
Torrents, methinks, that heard a mighty voice, And stopped at once amid their maddest plunge! Motionless torrents! Silent cataracts!
Who made you glorious as the gates of heaven Beneath the keen full moon? Who bade the sun Clothe you with rainbows? Who, with living flowers, Of loveliest blue,? spread garlands at your feet. God! let the torrents, like a shout of nations, Answer! and let the ice-plains echo, God!
God! sing, ye meadow-streams with gladsome voice! Ye pine-groves, with your soft and soul-like sounds! And they too, have a voice, yon piles of snow, And in their perilous fall shall thunder, God! Ye living flowers that skirt the eternal frost !
1 Besides the rivers Arve and Arveiron, which have their sources at the
foot of Mont Blanc, five conspicuous torrents rush down its sides.
2 Within a few paces of the Glaciers, the gentian grows in immense numbers.
Ye wild goats sporting round the eagle's nest! Ye eagles, playmates of the mountain-storm! Ye lightnings, the dread arrows of the clouds! Ye signs and wonders of the elements !
Utter forth God, and fill the hills with praise!
Thou too, hoar mount! with thy sky-pointing peaks, Oft from whose feet the avalanche, unheard, Shoots downward, glittering through the pure serene Into the depth of clouds, that veil thy breast- Thou too, again, stupendous Mountain! thou, That as I raise my head, awhile bowed low In adoration, upward from thy base
Slow travelling with dim eyes suffused with tears, Solemnly seemest, like a vapoury cloud,
To rise before me-Rise, O ever, rise,
Rise like a cloud of incense, from the earth! Thou kingly Spirit, throned among the hills, Thou dread ambassador from earth to heaven, Great hierarch! tell thou the silent sky, And tell the stars, and tell yon rising sun, Earth, with her thousand voices, praises God.
Or Nelson and the North,
Sing the glorious day's renown,
When to battle fierce came forth
All the might of Denmark's crown,
And her arms along the deep proudly shone;
By each gun the lighted brand,
In a bold determined hand,
And the Prince of all the land
Led them on.
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