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47. DEATH AND THE WARRIOR.

Y, warrior, arm and wear thy plume
On a proud and fearless brow!

I am the lord of the lonely tomb,

And a mightier one than thou!

Bid thy soul's love farewell, young chief,
Bid her a long farewell!

Like the morning's dew shall pass that grief,-
Thou comest with me to dwell!

2. "Thy bark may rush through the foaming deep, Thy steed o'er the breezy hill;

But they bear thee on to a place of sleep,
Narrow, and cold, and chill !"

"Was the voice I heard thy voice, O Death!
And is thy day so near?

Then on the field shall my life's last breath
Mingle with victory's cheer!

3. "Banner shall float, with the trumpet's note,
Above me as I die !

And the palm-tree wave o'er my noble grave,
Under the Syrian sky.

High hearts shall burn in the royal hall,

When the minstrel names that spot;

And the eyes I love shall weep my fall,-
Death, death! I fear thee not !"

4. "Warrior, thou bearest a haughty heart!
But I can bend its pride!

How should'st thou know that thy soul will part

In the hour of victory's tide?

It may be far from thy steel-clad bands

That I shall make thee mine;

It may be lone on the desert's sands

Where men for fountains pine!

5 "It may be deep, amidst heavy chains,
In some strong Paynim hold;

I have slow, dull steps, aud lingering pains,
Wherewith to tame the bold !"

"Death, death! I go to a doom unblest,
If this indeed must be ;

But the Cross is bound upon my breast,

And I may not shrink from thee !

6. "Sound, clarion, sound!-for my vows are given

To the cause of the holy shrine;

I bow my soul to the will of Heaven,

O Death

and not to thine!"

HEMANS.

48. KING RICHARD'S MEDITATION ON KINGS.

O matter where; of comfort no more speak;

No

Let's talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs; Make dust our paper, and with rainy eyes Write sorrow on the bosom of the earth. Let's choose executors, and talk of wills: And yet not so,--for what can we bequeath, Save our deposéd bodies to the ground? Our lands, our lives, and all are Bolingbroke's, And nothing can we call our own, but death; And that small model of the barren earth, Which serves as paste and cover to our bones. For Heaven's sake, let us sit upon the ground, And tell sad stories of the death of kings:How some have been deposed, some slain in war; Some haunted by the ghosts they have deposed; Some poisoned by their wives, some sleeping killed; All murdered:-for within the hollow crown, That rounds the mortal temples of a king, Keeps Death his court: and there the antic sits, Scoffing his state, and grinning at his pomp;

Allowing him a breath, a little scene

To monarchize, be feared, and kill with looks;
Infusing him with self and vain conceit,-
As if this flesh, which walls about our life,
Were brass impregnable; and, humored thus,
Comes at the last, and with a little pin

Bores through his castle wall, and—farewell, king!
Cover your heads, and mock not flesh and blood
With solemn reverence; throw away respect,
Tradition, form, and ceremonious duty,

For you have but mistook me all this while :

I live with bread like you, feel want, taste grief,
Need friends :-subjected thus,

How can you say to me—I am a king?

SHAKSPEARE

WEL

49. WELCOME TO GENERAL LAFAYETTE.

WELCOME, friend of our fathers, to our shores. Happy are our eyes that behold those venerable features. Enjoy a triumph, such as never conqueror or monarch enjoyed, the assurance that, throughout America, there is not a bosom which does not beat with joy and gratitude at the sound of your name. You have already met and saluted, or will soon meet, the few that remain, of the ardent patriots, prudent counsellors, and brave warriors with whom you were associated in achieving our liberties. But you have looked round in vain for the faces of many who would have lived years of pleasure on a day like this, with their old companion in arms and brother in peril.

2. Lincoln, and Greene, and Knox, and Hamilton are gone! The heroes of Saratoga and Yorktown have fallen before the only foe they could not meet! Above all, the first of heroes and of men, the friend of your youth, the more than friend of his country, rests in the bosom of the soil he redeemed. On the banks of his Potomac he lies in glory and peace. You

will revisit the hospitable shades of Mount Vernon; but him whom you venerated, as we did, you will not meet at its door. His voice of consolation, which reached you in the Austrian dungeons, cannot now break its silence to bid you welcome to his own roof.

3. But the grateful children of America will bid you wel come in his name. Welcome, thrice welcome to our shores; and whithersoever throughout the limits of the continent your course shall take you, the ear that hears you shall bless you; the eye that sees you, shall bear witness to you; and every tongue exclaim with heartfelt joy, "WELCOME, WELCOME, LAFAYETTE !"

EDWARD EVERETT.

MY

50. ROLLA'S ADDRESS.

brave associates, partners of my toils, my feelings, and my fame. Can Rolla's words add vigor to the virtuous energies which inspire your hearts? No, you have judged as I have, the foulness of the crafty plea by which these bold invaders would delude ye. Your generous spirit has compared, as mine has, the motives which in a war like this can animate their minds and ours.

2. They, by a strange frenzy driven, fight for power, for plunder, and extended rule; we-for our country, our altars, and our homes! They follow an adventurer whom they fear, and obey a power which they hate; we serve a country which we love a God whom we adore. Where'er they move in anger, desolation tracks their progress; where'er they pause in amity, affliction mourns their friendship.

3. They boast they come but to improve our state, enlarge our thoughts, and free us from the yoke of error. Yes, they will give enlightened freedom to our minds, who are themselves the slaves of passion, avarice, and pride. They offer us their protection; yes, such protection as vultures give to lambs, covering and devouring them. They call on us to bar

ter all of good we have inherited and proved, for. the desperate chance of something better which they promise.

4. Be our plain answer this: The throne we honor is the people's choice; the laws we reverence are our brave fathers' legacy; the faith we follow, teaches us to live in bonds of charity with all mankind and die-with hope of bliss beyond the grave. Tell your invaders this, and tell them, too, we seek no change, and least of all, such change as they would bring us.

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51. ADDRESS TO THE SUN.

THOU that rollest above, round as the shield of my fathers! Whence are thy beams, O sun! thy everlasting light? Thou comest forth, in thy awful beauty, and the stars hide themselves in the sky; the moon, cold and pale, sinks in the western wave. But thou thyself movest alone: who can be a companion of thy course?

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2. The oaks of the mountains fall; the mountains themselves decay with years; the ocean shrinks and grows again; the moon herself is lost in heaven; but thou art forever the same, rejoicing in the brightness of thy course. When the world is dark with tempests; when thunder rolls, and lightning flies, thou lookest in thy beauty from the clouds, and laughest at the storm.

3. But to Ossian, thou lookest in vain; for he beholds thy beams no more, whether thy yellow hair flows on the eastern clouds, or thou tremblest at the gates of the west. But thou art, perhaps, like me, for a season, and thy years will have an end. Thou shalt sleep in thy clouds, careless of the voice of the morning. Exult then, O sun, in the strength of thy youth!

4. Age is dark and unlovely; it is like the glimmering light of the moon, when it shines through broken clouds, and the mist is on the hills; the blast of the north is on the plain, the traveller shrinks in the midst of his journey.

OSSIAN.

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