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the religion of his country, let him wear it in his bosom for his crucifix to rest upon.»>

Note 13. Stanza Ixiii.
the Vault of Destiny.

« When once the pestilence had begun, it was impossible to check its progress, or confine it to one quarter of the city. Hospitals were immediately established, there were above thirty of them; as soon as one was destroyed by the bombardment, the patients were removed to another, and thus the infection was Before finally dismissing the enchanted cavern of carried to every part of Zaragoza. Famine aggravated Don Roderick, it may be noticed, that the legend octhe evil; the city had probably not been sufficiently curs in one of Calderon's plays, entitled, La Virgin del provided at the commencement of the siege, and of Sagario. The scene opens with t'.e noise of the chase, the provisions which it contained, much was destroyed and Recisundo, a predecessor of Roderick upon the in the daily ruin which the mines and bombs effected. Gothic throne, enters pursuing a stag. The animal asHad the Zaragozans and their garrison proceeded acsumes the form of a man, and defies the king to enter cording to military rules, they would have surrendered the cave, which forms the bottom of the scene, and before the end of January; their batteries had then engage with him in single combat. The king accepts been demolished, there were open breaches in many the challenge, and they engage accordingly, but withparts of their weak walls, and the enemy were already out advantage on either side, which induces the Genie within the city. On the 30th above sixty houses were to inform Recisundo, that he is not the monarch for blown up, and the French obtained possession of the whom the adventure of the enchanted cavern is remonasteries of the Augustines and Les Monicas, which served, and he proceeds to predict the downfall of the adjoined each other, two of the last defensible places Gothic monarchy, and of the christian religion, which left. The enemy forced their way into the church; shall attend the discovery of its mysteries. Recisundo, every column, every chapel, every altar, became a point appalled by these prophecies, orders the cavern to be of defence, which was repeatedly attacked, taken, and secured by a gate and bolts of iron. In the second part retaken: the pavement was covered with blood, the of the same play we are informed, that Don Roderick aisles and body of the church strewed with the dead, had removed the barrier and transgressed the prohibiwho were trampled under foot by the combatants. Intion of his ancestor, and had been apprised by the prothe midst of this conflict, the roof, shattered by repeat-digies which he discovered of the approaching ruin of ed bombs, fell in; the few who were not crushed, after his kingdom. a short pause, which this tremendous shock and their own unexpected escape occasioned, renewed the fight with rekindling fury: fresh parties of the enemy poured in; monks, and citizens, and soldiers came to the defence, and the contest was continued upon the ruins, and the bodies of the dead and the dying.»

Yet, seventeen days after sustaining these extremities, did the heroic inhabitants of Zaragoza continue their defence; nor did they then surrender until their despair had extracted from the French generals a capitulation, more honourable than has been granted to fortresses of the first order.

Who shall venture to refuse the Zaragozans the eulogium conferred upon them by the eloquence of Wordsworth?-« Most gloriously have the citizens of Zaragoza proved that the true army of Spain, in a contest of this nature, is the whole people. The same city has also exemplified a melancholy, yea, a dismal truth, -yet consolatory and full of joy,-that when a people are called suddenly to fight for their liberty, and are sorely pressed upon, their best field of battle is the floors upon which their children have played; the chambers where the family of each man has slept (his own or his neighbour's); upon or under the roofs by which they have becu sheltered; in the gardens of their recreation; in the street, or in the market-place; before the altars of their temples, and among their congregated dwellings, blazing or up-rooted.

< The government of Spain must never forget Zaraza for a moment. Nothing is wanting to produce the same effects everywhere, but a leading mind, such as that city was blessed with. In the latter contest this has been proved; for Zaragoza contained, at that time, bodies of men from almost all parts of Spain. The narrative of those two sieges should be the manual of every Spaniard. He may add to it the ancient stories of Numantia and Saguntum; let him sleep upon the book as a pillow, and, if he be a devout adherent to

Note 14. Conclusion. Stanza ii.
While downward on the land his legions press,
Before them it was rich with vine and flock,

And smiled like Eden in her summer dress;-
Behind their wasteful march, a reeking wilderness.

I have ventured to apply to the movements of the French army that sublime passage in the prophecies of Joel, which seems applicable to them in more respects than that I have adopted in the text. One would think their ravages, their military appointments, the terror which they spread among invaded nations, their military discipline, their arts of political intrigue and deceit, were distinctly pointed out in the following verses of Scripture:

2.

« A day of darknesse and gloominesse, a day of clouds and of thick darknesse, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong, there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.

3. « A fire devoureth before them, and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behinde them a desolate wildernesse, yea, and nothing shall escape them.

4. «The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses and as horsemen, so shall they runne.

5. « Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battel array.

6. « Before their face shall the people be much pained: all faces shall gather blacknesse.

7. " They shall run like mighty men, they shall climbe the wall like men of warre, and they shall march every one in his wayes, and they shall not break their ranks.

8. «Neither shall one thrust another, they shall walk every one in his path: and when they fall upon the sword they shall not be wounded.

9. « They shall run to and fro in the citie: they shall run upon the wall, they shall climbe up upon the houses: they shall enter in at the windows like a thief.

10. «The earth shall quake before them, the heavens shall tremble, the sunne and the moon shall be dark, and the starres shall withdraw their shining.»

In verse 20th also, which announces the retreat of the northern army, described in such dreadful colours, into a «< land barren and desolate,» and the dishonour with which God afflicted them for having « magnified themselves to do great things,» there are particulars not inapplicable to the retreat of Masséna; Divine Providence having, in all ages, attached disgrace as the natural punishment of cruelty and presumption.

Note 15. Conclusion. Stanza vii.

The rudest sentinel, in Britain born,

dulged themselves in parading their bands of music,
and actually performed « God save the King. Their
minstrelsy was however deranged by the undesired ac-
companiment of the British horse-artillery, on whose
part in the concert they had not calculated. The sur
prise was sudden, and the rout complete; for the artil-
lery and cavalry did execution upon them for about
four miles, pursuing at the gallop as often as they got
beyond the range of the guns.

Note 17. Conclusion. Stanza x.
Vainly thy squadrons hide Assuava's plain,
And front the flying thunders as they roar,
With frantic charge and tenfold odds, in vain!

dismissed them at the gallop, and, putting himself at the head of the mounted artillerymen, ordered them to fall upon the French, sabre in hand. This very uns

In the severe action of Fuentes d'Honoro, upon Sch May, 1811, the grand mass of the French cavalry attacked the right of the British position, covered by two guns of the horse-artillery, and two squadrons of ca1 valry. After suffering considerably from the fire of Gave his poor crust to feed some wretch forlorn. the guns, which annoyed them in every attempt at ; Even the unexampled gallantry of the British army formation, the enemy turned their wrath entirely toin the campaign of 1810-11, although they never wards them, distributed brandy among their troopers fought but to conquer, will do them less honour in his- and advanced to carry the field-pieces with the despe tory than their humanity, attentive to soften to the ut-ration of drunken fury. They were in no ways checked most of their power the horrors which war, in its by the heavy loss which they sustained in this dans, mildest aspect, must always inflict upon the defence- attempt, but closed, and fairly mingled with the British less inhabitants of the country in which it is waged, cavalry, to whom they bore the proportion of ten ta and which, on this occasion, were tenfold augmented one. Captain Ramsay (let me be permitted to name a by the barbarous cruelties of the French. Soup-gallant countryman), who commanded the two gun kitchens were established by subscription among the officers, wherever the troops were quartered for any length of time. The commissaries contributed the heads, feet, etc. of the cattle slaughtered for the sol-pected conversion of artillerymen into dragoons contr diery; rice, vegetables, and bread, where it could be had, were purchased by the officers. Fifty or sixty starving peasants were daily fed at one of these regimental establishments, and carried home the relics to their famished households. The emaciated wretches, who could not crawl from weakness, were speedily employed in pruning their vines. While pursuing Masséna, the soldiers evinced the same spirit of humanity; and, in many instances, when reduced themselves to short allowance, from having out-marched their supplies, they shared their pittance with the starving inhabitants who had ventured back to view the ruins of their habitations, burnt by the retreating enemy, and to bury the bodies of their relations whom they had butchered.— Is it possible to know such facts without feeling a sort of confidence, that those who so well deserve victory are most likely to attain it?-It is not the least of Lord Wellington's military merits, that the slightest disposition towards marauding meets immediate punishment. Independently of all moral obligation, the army which is most orderly in a friendly country, has always proved most formidable to an armed enemy.

Note 16. Conclusion. Stanza viii.
Vain-glorious fugitive!

buted greatly to the defeat of the enemy, already de
concerted by the reception they had met from the tw
British squadrons; and the appearance of some sta
reinforcements, notwithstanding the immense disǝro-
portion of force, put them to absolute rout.
A colca
or major of their cavalry, and many prisoners (alm
all intoxicated), remained in our possession. The
who consider for a moment the difference of the s
vices, and how much an artilleryman is necessarily a
naturally led to identify his own safety and utility with
abiding by the tremendous implement of war, to La
exercise of which he is chiefly, if not exclusively, tr
ed, will know how to estimate the presence of ma
which commanded so bold a manoeuvre, and the sca
ness and confidence with which it was executed.

Note 18. Conclusion. Stanza x.
And what avails thee that, for CAMERON slain,

Wild from his plaided ranks the yell was given. during the desperate contest in the streets of the vi The gallant Colonel Cameron was wounded mortally

called Fuentes d'Honoro. He fell at the head of s native Highlanders, the 71st and 79th, who raise. a dreadful shriek of grief and rage. They charge with irresistible fury, the finest body of French grea The French conducted this memorable retreat with diers ever seen, being a part of Buonaparte's selecti much of the fanfarronade proper to their country, by guard. The officer who led the French, a man rema-kwhich they attempt to impose upon others, and per-able for stature and symmetry, was killed on the haps on themselves, a belief that they are triumphing The Frenchman who stepped out of his rank to take in the very moment of their discomfiture. On the 30th aim at Colonel Cameron, was also bayoneted, pierced March, 1811, their rear-guard was overtaken near Pega with a thousand wounds, and almost torn to pieces by by the British cavalry. Being well posted, and conceiv- the furious Highlanders, who, under the command of ing themselves safe from infantry (who were indeed Colonel Cadogan, bore the enemy out of the contesand many miles in the rear), and from artillery, they in-ground at the point of the bayonet. Massena pays f

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countrymen a singular compliment in his account of the attack and defence of this village, in which he says, the British lost many officers, and Scotch.

Note 19. Conclusion. Stanza xiv.

O who shall grudge him Albuera's bays,

Who brought a race regenerate to the field,
Roused them to emulate their fathers' praise,

Temper'd their beadlong rage, their courage steel'd.

able manner in which these opinions have been retracted. The success of this plan, with all its important consequences, we owe to the indefatigable exertions of Field-Marshal Beresford.

Note 20. Conclusion. Stanza xvii.

a race renown'd of old,

Whose war-cry oft has waked the battle-swell.
This stanza alludes to the various achievements of
They are

the warlike family of Græme, or Graham.

Nothing during the war of Portugal seems, to a distinct observer, more deserving of praise, than the self-said, by tradition, to have descended from the Scottish devotion of Field-Marshal Beresford, who was contented chief, under whose command his countrymen stormed to undertake all the hazard of obloquy which might the wall built by the Emperor Severus between the have been founded upon any miscarriage in the highly friths of Forth and Clyde, the fragments of which are important experiment of training the Portuguese troops still popularly called Græme's Dyke. Sir John the to an improved state of discipline. In exposing his Græme, « the hardy, wight, and wise,» is well known military reputation to the censure of imprudence from as the friend of Sir William Wallace. Alderne, Kilthe most moderate, and all manner of unutterable casyth, and Tibbermuir, were scenes of the victories of lamnies from the ignorant and malignant, he placed at the heroic Marquis of Montrose. The pass of Killystake the dearest pledge which a military man had to crankie is famous for the action between King Wil offer, and nothing but the deepest conviction of the liam's forces and the Highlanders in 1689, high and essential importance attached to success can be supposed an adequate motive. How great the chance of miscarriage was supposed, may be estimated from It is seldom that one line can number so many hethe general opinion of officers of unquestioned talents roes, and yet more rare when it can appeal to the and experience, possessed of every opportunity of in-glory of a living descendant in support of its ancient formation; how completely the experiment has suc-renown.

Where glad Dundee in faint huzzas expired.

ceeded, and how much the spirit and patriotism of our The allusions to the private history and character of ancient allies had been under-rated, is evident, not only General Graham may be illustrated by referring to the from those victories in which they have borne a distin-cloquent and affecting speech of Mr Sheridan, upon the guished share, but from the liberal and highly honour-vote of thanks to the victor of Barrossa.

The Field of Waterloo:

А РОЕМ.

Though Valois braved young Edward's gentle hand,
And Albert rush'd on Henry's way-worn band,

With Europe's chosen sons in arms renown'd,

Yet not on Vere's bold archers long they look'd,

Nor Audley's squires nor Mowbray's yeomen brook'd

They saw their standard fall, and left their monarch bound.

AKENSIDE.

TO HER GRACE THE DUCHESS OF WELLINGTON,

PRINCESS OF WATERLOO, ETC., ETC., ETC.

The following Cerses are most respectfully Inscribed,

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No opening glade dawns on our way,
No streamlet, glancing to the ray,

Our woodland path has cross'd;

And the straight causeway which we tread
Prolongs a line of dull arcade,

Unvarying through the unvaried shade,
Until in distance lost.

II.

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A brighter, livelier scene succeeds
In groups the scattering wood recedes,
Hedge-rows, and huts, and sunny meads,

And corn-fields glance between;
The peasant, at his labour blithe,

Plies the hook'd staff and shorten'd scythe :-(1)

But when these ears were green, Placed close within destruction's scope, Full little was that rustic's hope

Their ripening to have seen!

And, lo, a hamlet and its fane
Let not the gazer with disdain
Their architecture view;
For yonder rude ungraceful shrine,
And disproportion'd spire, are thine,
Immortal WATERLOO!

III.

Fear not the heat, though full and high
The sun has scorch'd the autumn sky,
And scarce a forest straggler now

To shade us spreads a green-wood bough.
These fields have seen a hotter day
Than e'er was fired by sunny ray.
Yet one mile on-yon shatter'd hedge
Crests the soft hill whose long smooth ridge
Looks on the field below,

And sinks so gently on the dale,
That not the folds of Beauty's veil

In easier curves can flow.

Brief space from thence, the ground again,
Ascending slowly from the plain,

Forms an opposing screen,
Which, with its crest of upland ground,
Shuts the horizon all around.

The soften'd vale between

Slopes smooth and fair for courser's tread;
Not the most timid maid need dread
To give her snow-white palfrey head
On that wide stubble-ground.
Nor wood, nor tree, nor bush are there,
Her course to intercept or scare,

Nor fosse nor fence are found,

Save where, from out her shatter'd bowers, Rise Hougoumont's dismantled towers.

IV.

Now, seest thou aught in this lone scene
Can tell of that which late hath been?-
A stranger might reply,
«The bare extent of stubble-plain
Seems lately lighten'd of its grain;
And yonder sable tracks remain,
Marks of the peasant's ponderous wain,
When harvest-home was nigh.

On these broad spots of trampled ground,
Perchance the rustics danced such round
As Teniers loved to draw;

And where the earth seems scorch'd by flame,
To dress the homely feast they came,
And toil'd the kerchiefd village dame
Around her fire of straw.»——

V.

So deem'st thou-so each mortal deems, Of that which is from that which seems: But other harvest here

Than that which peasant's scythe demands, Was gather'd in by sterner hands,

With bayonet, blade, and spear.
No vulgar crop was theirs to reap,
No stinted harvest thin and cheap!
Heroes before each fatal sweep

Fell thick as ripen'd grain;
And ere the darkening of the day,
Piled high as autumn shocks, there lay
The ghastly harvest of the fray,

The corpses of the slain.

VI.

Ay, look again-that line so black
And trampled marks the bivouack,
Yon deep-graved ruts, the artillery's track,
So often lost and won;

And close beside, the harden'd mud
Still shows where, fetlock-deep in blood,
The fierce dragoon, through battle's flood,
Dash'd the hot war-horse on.
These spots of excavation tell
The ravage of the bursting shell-
And feel'st thou not the tainted steam,
That reeks against the sultry beam,

From yonder trenched mound?
The pestilential fumes declare
That Carnage has replenish'd there
ller garner-house profound.

VII.

Far other harvest-home and feast,
Than claims the boor from scythe released,
On those scorch'd fields were known!
Death hover'd o'er the maddening rout,
And, in the thrilling battle-shout,
Sent for the bloody banquet out
A summons of his own.

Through rolling smoke the demon's eye
Could well each destined guest espy,
Well could his ear in ecstasy

Distinguish every tone

That fill'd the chorus of the fray-
From cannon-roar and trumpet-bray,
From charging squadrons' wild hurra,
From the wild clang that mark'd their way,
Down to the dying groan,

And the last sob of life's decay
When breath was all but flown.

VIII.

Feast on, stern foe of mortal life,
Feast on!-but think not that a strife,
With such promiscuous carnage rife,
Protracted space may last;
The deadly tug of war at length
Must limits find in human strength,
And cease when these are pass'd.

Vain hope!-that morn's o'erclouded sun Heard the wild shout of fight begun

Ere he attain'd his height,

And through the war-smoke volumed high Still peals that unremitted cry,

Though now he stoops to night.

For ten long hours of doubt and dread,
Fresh succours from the extended head
Of either hill the contest fed;

Still down the slope they drew,
The charge of columns paused not,

Nor ceased the storm of shell and shot;
For all that war could do,

Of skill and force, was proved that day,
And turn'd not yet the doubtful fray
On bloody Waterloo.

IX.

Pale Brussels! then what thoughts were thine, (2) When ceaseless from the distant line

Continued thunders came!

Each burgher held his breath to hear
These forerunners of havoc near,

Of rapine and of flame.

What ghastly sights were thine to meet,
When rolling through thy stately street,
The wounded show'd their mangled plight
In token of the unfinish'd fight,
And from each anguish-laden wain
The blood-drops laid thy dust like rain!
How often in the distant drum
Heard'st thou the fell Invader come,
While Ruin, shouting to his band,
Shook high her torch and gory brand!—
Cheer thee, fair city! From yon stand,
Impatient, still his outstretch'd hand

Points to his prey in vain,
While maddening in his eager mood,
And all unwont to be withstood,
He fires the fight again.

X.

On! On!» was still his stern exclaim,
Confront the battery's jaws of flame!
Rush on the levell'd gun! (3)
My steel-clad cuirassiers, advance!
Each Hulan forward with his lance,

My Guard-my chosen-charge for France,
France and Napoleon!»>

Loud answer'd their acclaiming shout,
Greeting the mandate which sent out
Their bravest and their best to dare
The fate their leader shunn'd to share. (4)
But He, his country's sword and shield,
Still in the battle-front reveal'd,
Where danger fiercest swept the field,
Came like a beam of light,

In action prompt, in sentence brief-
« Soldiers, stand firm!» exclaim'd the chief,
England shall tell the fight!» (5)

XI.

On came the whirlwind-like the last
But fiercest sweep of tempest blast-

On came the whirlwind-steal-gleams broke
Like lightning through the rolling smoke.
The war was waked anew;

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But on the British heart were lost
The terrors of the charging host;
For not an eye the storm that view'd
Changed its proud glance of fortitude,
Nor was one forward footstep staid,
As dropp'd the dying and the dead.
Fast as their ranks the thunders tear,
Fast they renew'd each serried square ;
And on the wounded and the slain
Closed their diminish'd files again,

Till from their line scarce spears' length three,
Emerging from the smoke they see
Helmet and plume and panoply, —
Then waked their fire at once!
Each musketeer's revolving knell,
As fast, as regularly fell,

As when they practise to display
Their discipline on festal day.

Then down went helm and lance,
Down were the eagle banners sent,
Down reeling steeds and riders went,
Corslets were pierced, and pennons rent;

And to augment the fray,

Wheel'd full against their staggering flanks,
The English horsemen's foaming ranks
Forced their resistless way.

Then to the musket-knell succeeds
The clash of swords-the neigh of steeds-
As plies the smith his clanging trade,
Against the cuirass rang the blade; (6)
And while amid their close array
The well-served cannon rent their way,
And while amid their scatter'd band
Raged the fierce rider's bloody brand,
Recoil'd in common rout and fear,

Lancer and guard and cuirassier,
Horsemen and foot,-a mingled host,

Their leaders fall'n, their standards lost.

XIII.

Then, WELLINGTON! thy piercing eye

This crisis caught of destiny.

The British host had stood

That morn 'gainst charge of sword and lance,

As their own ocean-rocks hold stance,

But when thy voice had said « Advance !»
They were their ocean's flood.-

O thou, whose inauspicious aim
Hath wrought thy host this hour of shame,
Think'st thou thy broken bands will bide
The terrors of yon rushing tide?

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