Then these are things so near, That I might pardon one who hesitates, Doubting between them. But the Crop and Child! They are so opposite, that I should look Sooner to hear the Frog teach harmony, Than meet a man, with hairs so grey as thine, Who did not know the difference.
The oldest, ere he die, something might learn; And I shall hear, gladly, the certain marks That show the Killcrop.
The Killcrop, mark me, for a true man's child At first might be mistaken-has two eyes And nose and mouth, but these are semblances Deceitful, and, as Father Luther says, There's something underneath.
If Killcrops look like children, by what power Know you they are not?
This from you, Why when they are pinch'd they squeak.
All children cry when pinch'd.
Laid in my cradle, but I spied him out; Thou'st never seen a creature so foul-mouth'd And body'd too. But, knowing Satan's drift, I balk'd him: to the lofty Church that stands Over yon river, I the Killerop took, To ask advice, how to dispose of him,
Of the holy Pastor. When, by the moon on high, (T is true I fear'd him,) as I pass'd the bridge, Bearing him in my arms, he gave a leap, And over the rails jump'd headlong, laughing loud With a fellow-fiend, that, from the waves beneath, Bawl'd-Killcrop! Killerop!
It needed iron arms
Doubt whate'er you will,
And when he reach'd the water,
Grasping the fiend, I never shall forget
The cries, the yells, the shouts; it seem'd to me But then their maws! That thunder was doves' cooing to the noise
Why, Devil-like, When any evil happens, by his grin 'T will always tell ye, and when tidings good Come near, the beasts of twins delivered, or Corn sold at market, or the harvest in, The raven never croak'd more dismally Before the sick man's window, than this Crep, With disappointment howls. And then, a mark Infallible, that shows the Killcrop true, Is this, old man, he sucks his mother dry! 'Twas but the other day, in our village, A Killerop suck'd his mother and five more Dry as a whet-stone. Do you now believe?
Good Benedict, all children laugh and cry! I have my doubts.
Doubts have you? Well-a-day! In t'other world you'll sink ten fathoms deeper, I promise you, for this foul heresy.
But nothing will move you,-you won't be moved. I'll tell ye as true a story as ever man Told to another. I had a Changeling once
These Killerops made, as, splashing, roaring, laughing, With their ha, ha, ha, so ominous! they rush'd Down the broad stream.-That very night our cow Sicken'd and died. Saints aid us! Whilst these Crops Poison the air, they'll have enough to do To stay the pestilence.
Be not outrageous! I am old, d' ye see; Trust me, thou art mistaken; 't is no Killcrop: See how he smiles! Poor infant: give him me.
Stand off! The Devil lent him, and again
I will return him honestly, and rid Earth of one bane.
Thou dost not mean to kill! Poor infant, spare him! I have young and old, The poor, a houseful, yet I'll not refuse To take one more, if thou wilt give him me. Let me persuade.
Even if an Angel came to beg him of me, I should suspect imposture, for I know He could not ask a Killerop. 'Tis a thing Heaven hath no need of. Ere an hour be past, From yon tall rock I'll hurl him to perdition.
Repeat it not! Oh, spare the infant! Spare His innocent laughter! My cold creeping blood
Doth boil with indignation, at the thought Most horrible. Thou must not do the deed!
Not punish Satan! I have learnt too well From Father Luther. Once again, stand off! I'll rocket him.
Six months they stretch'd him on the rack of hope, Then took his life.
I would I were in England!
Aye, get thee home again! you islanders [Exeunt. Live under such good laws, so mild a sway, That you are no more fit to dwell abroad Than a doting mother's favourite to endure His first school hardships. We in Holland here Know 't is as idle to exclaim against
SCENE.-Holland. TIME, during the Government of These state oppressions, as with childish tears
And what has followed? KLAUS.
I saw him in his dungeon: 't is a place
Where the hell-haunted Murderer might almost Rejoice to hear the hangman summon him.
By day he may divert his solitude
With watching through the grate the snow-flakes fall, Or counting the long icicles above him;
Or he may trace upon the ice-glazed wall Lines of most brave sedition! and at night The frosty moon-beam for his meditation Lends light enough. He told me that his feet Were ulcered with the biting cold.-I would Thou hadst been with me, Ellis.
But does Philip Command these things, or knowingly permit The punishment to go before the judgment?
Knowest thou not with what confidence the King Reposes upon Alva? we believe
That 't is with Philip a twin act to know Injustice, and redress; this article
Of our state-creed, 't were heresy to doubt. But the dead echo of the dungeon groan, How should it pierce the palace? how intrude Upon the delicate ear of royalty?
But sure Count Roderick's service
Powerful plea! He served his country, and his country paid him The wages of his service. Why but late A man that in ten several fields had fought His country's battles, by the hangman's hand Died like a dog; and for a venial crime- A deed that could not trouble with one doubt A dying man! At Lepanto he had shared The danger of that day whose triumph broke The Ottoman's power, and this was pleaded for him:
To weep in the stone, or any other curse Wherewith God's wrath afflicts us. And for struggling, Why 't would be like an idiot in the gout Stamping for pain!
FOR THE PRINCESS CHARLOTTE OF WALES.
In its summer pride arrayed, Low our Tree of Hope is laid! Low it lies:-in evil hour, Visiting the bridal bower,
Death hath levelled root and flower. Windsor, in thy sacred shade, (This the end of pomp and power!) Have the rites of death been paid: Windsor, in thy sacred shade
Is the Flower of Brunswick laid!
Ye whose relics rest around, Tenants of this funeral ground! Know ye, Spirits, who is come, By immitigable doom
Summoned to the untimely tomb?
Late with youth and splendour crown'd,
Late in beauty's vernal bloom,
Late with love and joyaunce blest; Never more lamented guest
Was in Windsor laid to rest.
Henry, thou of saintly worth, Thou, to whom thy Windsor gave Nativity, and name, and grave; Thou art in this hallowed earth Cradled for the immortal birth. Heavily upon his head Ancestral crimes were visited. He, in spirit like a child, Meek of heart and undefiled, Patiently his crown resigned,
And fixed on heaven his heavenly mind, Blessing, while he kiss'd the rod,
His Redeemer and his God. Now may he in realms of bliss Greet a soul as pure as his.
Passive as that humble spirit, Lies his bold dethroner too; A dreadful debt did he inherit To his injured lineage due; Ill-starred Prince, whose martial merit His own England long might rue!
Mournful was that Edward's fame, Won in fields contested well, While he sought his rightful claim: Witness Aire's unhappy water, Where the ruthless Clifford fell;
And when Wharfe ran red with slaughter, On the day of Towcester's field, Gathering, in its guilty flood,
The carnage and the ill-spilt blood,
That forty thousand lives could yield. Cressy was to this but sport, Poictiers but a pageant vain, And the victory of Spain
Seem'd a strife for pastime meant, And the work of Agincourt
Only like a tournament;
Half the blood which there was spent, Had sufficed again to gain Anjou and ill-yielded Maine: Normandy and Aquitaine, And our Lady's ancient towers, Maugre all the Valois' powers, Had a second time been ours. A gentle daughter of thy line, Edward, lays her dust with thine.
Thou, Elizabeth, art here: Thou to whom all griefs were known: Thou wert placed upon the bier In happier hour than on the throne. Fatal Daughter, fatal Mother, Raised to that ill-omen'd station, Father, uncle, sons, and brother, Mourn'd in blood her elevation; Woodville, in the realms of bliss, To thine offspring thou mayst say, Early death is happiness;
And favour'd in their lot are they Who are not left to learn below That length of life is length of woe. Lightly let this ground be prest; A broken heart is here at rest.
Of the pride of Norfolk's line, By the axe so often red, By the fire with martyrs fed, Hateful Henry, not with thee May her happy spirit be!
And here lies one, whose tragic name A reverential thought may claim; The murdered monarch, whom the grave, Revealing its long secret, gave Again to sight, that we might spy His comely face, and waking eye; There, thrice fifty years, it lay, Exempt from natural decay, Unclosed and bright, as if to say, A plague, of bloodier, baser birth Than that beneath whose rage he bled, Was loose upon our guilty earth; Such awful warning from the dead Was given by that portentous eye; Then it closed eternally.
Ye, whose relics rest around, Tenants of this funeral ground; Even in your immortal spheres, What fresh yearnings will ye feel, When this earthly guest appears! Us she leaves in grief and tears; But to you will she reveal Tidings of old England's weal; Of a righteous war pursued, Long, through evil and through good, With unshaken fortitude;
Of peace, in battle twice achiev'd;
Of her fiercest foe subdued,
And Europe from the yoke relieved, Upon that Brabantine plain : Such the proud, the virtuous story, Such the great, the endless glory Of her father's splendid reign. He, who wore the sable mail, Might, at this heroic tale, Wish himself on earth again.
One who reverently, for thee, Raised the strain of bridal verse, Flower of Brunswick! mournfully Lays a garland on thy herse.
WRITTEN AFTER the king's VISIT TO THAT COUNTRY.
AT length hath Scotland seen
The presence long desired; The pomp of royalty
Her ancient palace desolate how long!
From all parts far and near,
Highland and lowland, glen and fertile carse, The silent mountain lake, the busy port, Her populous cities, and her pastoral hills, In generous joy convened
By the free impulse of the loyal heart,
Her sons have gather'd, and beheld their king.
Speak ye, too, works of peace;
For ye too have a voice
Which shall be heard by ages! The proud bridge, Through whose broad arches, worthy of their name
And place, his rising and his refluent tide Majestic Thames, the royal river, rolls! And that which, high in air,
A bending line suspended, shall o'erhang Menai's Straits, as if
By Merlin's mighty magic there sustain'd! And Pont-Cyssylté, not less wondrous work;
Where on gigantic columns raised
Aloft, a dizzying height, The laden barge pursues its even way, While o'er his rocky channel the dark Dee Hurries below, a raging stream, scarce heard! And that huge mole, whose deep foundations, firm As if by Nature laid,
Repel the assailing billows, and protect The British fleet, securely riding there, Though southern storms possess the sea and sky, And from its depths commoved, Infuriate ocean raves.
Ye stately monuments of Britain's power, Bear record ye, what Scottish minds Have plann'd and perfected! With grateful wonder shall posterity
See the stupendous works, and Rennie's name And Telford's shall survive, till time Leave not a wreck of sublunary things.
Him too may I attest for Scotland's praise, Who seized and wielded first
The mightiest element That lies within the scope of man's control; Of evil and of good
Prolific spring, and dimly yet discern'd The immeasureable results.
The mariner no longer seeks
Wings from the wind; creating now the power Wherewith he wins his way,
Right on across the ocean-flood, he steers Against opposing skies;
And reaching now the inmost continent, Up rapid streams, innavigable else, Ascends with steady progress, self-propell'd.
Nor hath the sister kingdom borne, In science, and in arms Alone, her noble part;
There is an empire which survives
The wreck of thrones, the overthrow of realms, The downfall, and decay, and death Of nations. Such an empire in the mind Of intellectual man
Rome yet maintains, and elder Greece; and such By indefeasible right
Hath Britain made her own.
How fair a part doth Caledonia claim In that fair conquest! Whereso'er The British tongue may spread,
(A goodly tree, whose leaf No winter e'er shall nip:)
Earthly immortals, there, her sons of fame, Will have their heritage;
In eastern and in occidental Ind; The new antarctic world, where sable swans Glide upon waters, called by British names, And plough'd by British keels;
In vast America, through all its length And breadth, from Massachusett's populous coast To western Oregan;
And from the southern gulf,
Where the great river with his turbid flood Stains the green ocean, to the polar sea.
There nations yet unborn shall trace In Hume's perspicuous page, How Britain rose, and through what storms attain'd Her eminence of power.
In other climates, youths and maidens there Shall learn from Thomson's verse in what attire The various seasons, bringing in their change Variety of good,
Revisit their beloved English ground. There Beattie! in thy sweet and soothing strain Shall youthful poets read
Their own emotions. There too, old and young, Gentle and simple, by Sir Walter's tales Spell-bound, shall feel
Imaginary hopes and fears
Strong as realities,
And, waking from the dream, regret its close.
These Scotland are thy glories; and thy praise Is England's, even as her power And opulence of fame are thine;
So hath our happy union made Each in the other's weal participant, Enriching, strengthening, glorifying both.
C House of Stuart, to thy memory still For this best benefit
Should British hearts in gratitude be bound! A deeper tragedy
Than thine unhappy tale hath never fill'd The historic page, nor given
Poet or moralist his mournful theme! O House severely tried,
And in prosperity alone Found wanting; Time hath closed Thy tragic story now!
Errors and virtues fatally betrayed,
Magnanimous suffering, vice, Weakness, and headstrong zeal, sincere though blind, Wrongs, calumnies, heart wounds, Religious resignation, earthly hopes, Fears and affections, these have had their course, And over them in peace
The all-engulfing stream of years hath closed, But this good work endures, 'Stablish'd and perfected by length of days, The indissoluble union stands.
Nor hath the sceptre from that line Departed, though the name hath lost Its regal honours. Trunk and root have failed: A scion from the stock
Liveth and flourisheth. It is the Tree
Beneath whose sacred shade, In majesty and peaceful power serene, The Island Queen of Ocean hath her seat; Whose branches far and near
Extend their sure protection; whose strong roots Are with the isle's foundations interknit; Whose stately summit when the storm careers Below, abides unmoved, Safe in the sunshine and the peace of Heaven!
A SOLDIER'S EPITAPH.
STEEP is the soldier's path; nor are the heights Of Glory to be won without long toil And arduous efforts of enduring hope, Save when death takes the aspirant by the hand, And cutting short the work of years, at once Lifts him to that conspicuous eminence.
Such fate was mine.-The standard of the Buffs
I bore at Albuhera, on that day
When, covered by a shower, and fatally For friends misdeemed, the Polish lancers fell Upon our rear. Surrounding me, they claimed My precious charge!-« Not but with life!» I cried, And life was given for immortality!
The flag which to my heart I held, when wet With that heart's blood, was soon victoriously Regained on that great day. In former times, Marlborough beheld it borne at Ramillies;
For Brunswick and for liberty it waved Triumphant at Culloden; and bath seen The lilies on the Caribbean shores Abased before it; then too in the front Of battle did it flap exultantly,
When Douro, with its wide stream interposed, Saved not the French invaders from attack, Discomfiture, and ignominious rout.. My name is Thomas: undisgraced have I Transmitted it. He who in days to come
May bear the honoured banner to the field Will think of Albuhera, and of me!
TO THE MEMORY OF A YOUNG OFFICER, WHO WAS MORTALLY WOUNDED IN THE BATTLE OF CORUNA.
MYSTERIOUS are the ways of Providence ;
Old men who have grown grey in camps, and wished, And prayed, and sought in battle to lay down The burthen of their age, have seen the young Fall round, themselves untouched; and balls beside The graceless and the unblest head have past, Harmless as hail, to reach some precious life, For which clasped hands, and supplicating eyes, Duly at morn and eve were raised to Heaven; And, in the depth and loneness of the soul (Then boding all too truly) midnight prayers Breathed from an anxious pillow wet with tears, But blessed, even amid their grief, are they Who, in the hour of visitation, bow Beneath the unerring will, and look toward Their Heavenly Father, merciful as just! They, while they own his goodness, feel that whom He chastens them he loves. The cup He gives Shall they not drink it? Therefore doth the draught Resent of comfort in its bitterness,
And carry healing with it. What but this Could have sustained the mourners who were left, With life-long yearnings, to remember him Whose early death this monumental verse Records? For never more auspicious hopes Were nipt in flower, nor finer qualities From Goodliest fabric of mortality Divorced, nor virtues worthier to adorn
The world transferred to heaven, than when ere time Had measured him the space of nineteen years, Paul Burrard on Coruna's fatal field Received his mortal hurt. Not unprepared The heroic youth was found: for in the ways Of piety had he been trained; and what The dutiful child upon his mother's knees Bad learnt the soldier faithfully observed. In chamber or in tent, the book of God Was his beloved manual: and his life Beseemed the lessons which from thence he drew. For gallant as he was and blithe of heart, Expert of hand, and keen of eye, and prompt In intellect, religion was the crown Of all his noble properties. When Paul Was by, the scoffer, self-abased, restrained The licence of his speech: and ribaldry Before his virtuous presence sate rebuked. And yet so frank and affable a form His virtue wore, that wheresoe'er he moved
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