Culloden. These shelter'd glens and dusky hills, Away we rush'd, for chiefs were there; And yon young regal warrior, too, Then came the Southron, hand to hand, And swept their trembling ranks away. The fox wax'd strong: our chieftains frown'd We basely left our vantage ground, And turn'd us home like beaten men. Yet England's blue-eyed yeomen bold, Though vaunting in their long array, Confess'd it was no play to hold, Or strike, the mountain deer at bay. At length Culloden's boding heath, Despairing, saw our clansmen stand, While, flaming like the sword of death, Before us gleam'd the Saxon brand. 353 It smote us merciless; it slew The flower of many a warrior clan, ; Our chieftains sought their native hills Lies mouldering 'neath the verdant sod. The Shipwreck of Camoëns. "On his return from banishment, Camoëns was shipwrecked at the mouth of the river Gambia. He saved himself by clinging to a plank, and of all his little property succeeded only in saving his poem of the 'Luciad,' deluged with the waves as he brought it in his hand to shore." *-SISMONDI. "I saw him beat the surges under him, And ride upon their backs; he trod the water, CLOU LOUDS gather'd o'er the dark blue sky, And the music of the waves was changed To the plaintive voice of wail; * He is described with his sword in his hand upon the authority of his own words: "N'huma mao livros, n'outra, ferro et aco, N'huma mao sempre a espada, n'outra a pena." The Shipwreck of Camoëns. And fearfully the lightning flash'd Around the ship's tall mast, While mournfully through the creaking shrouds Came the sighing of the blast. With pallid cheek the seamen shrank Before the deepening gloom; For they gazed on the black and boiling sca As 'twere a yawning tomb; But on the vessel's deck stood one With proud and changeless brow: Nor pain, nor terror was in the look He turn'd to the gulf below. And calmly to his arm he bound Then stretch'd his sinewy arms, and cried: The limbs that have spurn'd a tyrant's chain "Now let the strife of nature rage, Where'er the waters may bear me on, The dreaded moment came too soon, Till the wall of waters closed around, Then rose one wild, half-stifled cry; 355 But 'mid the billows still was seen The stranger's struggling form; And the meteor flash of his sword might seem Like a beacon 'mid the storm. For still, while with his strong right arm He buffeted the wave, The other upheld that treasured prize Was, then, the love of pelf so strong, No! all earth's gold were dross to him, Through lonely years of changeless woe, For there was all the mind's rich wealth, That, in after years, he hoped might form Nobly he struggled, till o'erspent, His nerveless limbs no more Could bear him on through the waves that rose Like barriers to the shore; Yet still he held his long-prized wealth, He saw the wish'd-for land A moment more, and he was thrown Alas! far better to have died Where the mighty billows roll, Than lived till coldness and neglect Bow'd down his haughty soul: To the Cricket. Such was his dreary lot, at once To the Cricket. SP BY THE REV. THOMAS COLE. PRIGHTLY cricket, chirping still In my kitchen take thy rest As a truly welcome guest; For no evils shall betide Those with whom thou dost reside. Thou, a harmless inmate deem'd, 357 |