ページの画像
PDF
ePub

As if some awful deed were done, a shriek of grief and pain,

[again. A cry, I humbly trust in God, I ne'er may hear

"I hurried out to learn the cause; but overwhelmed with fright,

The children never ceased to shriek, and from my frenzied sight,

I missed the youngest of my babes, the darling of my care;

But something caught my searching eyes, slow sailing through the air,

[eye"Oh! what an awful spectacle to meet a father's His infant made a vulture's prey, with terror to descry;

And know, with agonising breast, and with a maniac rave,

That earthly power could not avail, that innocent to save!

to me,

"My infant stretched his little hands imploringly [to get free; And struggled with the ravenous bird, all vainly, At intervals, I heard his cries, as loud he shrieked and screamed, [seemed. Until, upon the azure sky, a lessening spot he

"The vulture flapped his sail-like wings, though heavily he flew;

A mote upon the sun's broad face he seemed unto

[blocks in formation]

But once I thought I saw him stoop, as if he would alight

'Twas only a delusive thought, for all had vanished quite.

"All search was vain, and years had passed; that child was ne'er forgot,

When once a daring hunter climbed unto a lofty spot,

From whence, upon a rugged crag the chamois never reached,

He saw an infant's fleshless bones the elements had bleached!

"I clambered up that rugged cliff-I could not stay away

I knew they were my infant's bones thus hastening to decay :

A tattered garment yet remained, though torn to many a shred;

The crimson cap he wore that morn was still upon his head.

"That dreary spot is pointed out to travellers passing by,

Who often stand, and, musing gaze, nor go without a sigh."

And as I journeyed, the next morn, along my

sunny way,

The precipice was shown to me, whereon the

infant lay.

ANON.

liza at the Battle of Minden.

Eliza

The following piece records an incident in the battle of Minden, A.D. 1759. Minden is a town on the river Weser in Germany. A victory was gained here over the French by the English and Hanoverians. The English were commanded by Lord George Sackville and the Hanoverians by Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick.

Cow stood Eliza on the wood-crowned height, O'er Minden's plain, spectatress of the fight; Sought, with bold eye, amid the bloody strife, Her dearer self, the partner of her life; From hill to hill the rushing host pursued, And viewed his banner, or believed she viewed. Pleased with the distant roar, with quicker tread Fast by his hand one lisping boy she led; And one fair girl amid the loud alarm Slept on her kerchief, cradled by her arm; While round her brows bright beams of honour dart,

And love's warm eddies circle in heart.

66

Near and more near the intrepid beauty pressed,
Saw, through the driving smoke, his dancing crest;
Heard the exulting shout," They run ! they run!"
"O Joy!" she cried, "he's safe! the battle's won!"
A ball now hisses through the airy tides,
(Some Fury wings it, and some Demon guides!)
Parts the fine locks, her graceful head that deck,
Wounds her fair ear, and sinks into her neck:

[ocr errors]

age!

The red stream issuing from hér azure veins, Dyes her white veil, her ivory bosom stains. "Ah me!" she cried, and, sinking on the ground, Kissed her dear babes, regardless of the wound; "Oh, cease not yet to beat, thou vital urn! Wait, gushing life, oh, wait my love's return !”Hoarse barks the wolf, the vulture screams from far, The angel, Pity, shuns the walks of war; "Oh spare, ye war-hounds, spare their tender On me, on me," she cried, "exhaust your rage!" Then, with weak arms, her weeping babes caressed And sighing, hid them in her blood-stained vest. From tent to tent the impatient Warrior flies, Fear in his heart and frenzy in his eyes; Eliza's name along the camp he calls, "Eliza!" echoes through the canvas walls; Quick through the murmuring gloom his footsteps tread,

O'er groaning heaps, the dying and the dead; Vault o'er the plain,—and in the tangled woodLo! dead Eliza-weltering in her blood!

Soon hears his listening son the welcome sounds, With open arms and sparkling eyes he bounds :— "Speak low," he cries, and gives his little hand, Mamma's asleep upon the dew-cold sand.

4.

Alas! we both with cold and hunger quakeWhy do you weep ?-Mamma will soon awake.” "She'll wake no more!" the hopeless mourner cried, Upturned his eyes, and clasped his hands, and sighed;

Stretched on the ground a while entranced he lay, And pressed warm kisses on the lifeless clay; And then upsprung with wild convulsive start, And all the father kindled in his heart.

"O Heaven!" he cried," my first rash vow forgive! These bind to earth, for these I pray to live!" Round his chill babes he wrapped his crimson vest, And clasped them, sobbing, to his aching breast.

DR. ERASMUS DARWIN.

The Sea Gull.

HITE bird of the tempest! O beautiful thing, With the bosom of snow, and the motionless wing, Now sweeping the billow, now floating on high, Now bathing thy plumes in the light of the sky; Now poising o'er ocean thy delicate form, Now breasting the surge with thy bosom so warm; Now darting aloft, with a heavenly scorn, Now shooting along, like a ray of the morn, Now lost in the folds of the cloud-curtained dome, Now floating abroad like a flake of the foam, Now silently poised o'er the war of the main, Like the Spirit of Charity brooding o'er pain. Now gliding with pinion all silently furled, Like an Angel descending to comfort the world! Thou seem'st to my spirit, as upward I gaze, And see thee, now clothed in mellowest rays;

« 前へ次へ »