At once on all her stately gates arose the answering fires;
At once the wild alarum clashed from all her reeling spires;
From all the batteries of the Tower pealed loud the voice of fear,
And all the thousand masts of Thames sent back a louder cheer;
And from the farthest wards2 was heard the rush of hurrying feet,
And the broad streams of flags and pikes dashed down each roaring
street:

And broader still became the blaze, and louder still the din,

As fast from every village round the horse came spurring in ; And eastward straight from wild Blackheath the warlike errand went,

And roused in many an ancient hall the gallant squires of Kent. Southward from Surrey's pleasant hills flew those bright couriers forth;

High on bleak Hampstead's swarthy moor they started for the north;
And on, and on, without a pause, untired they bounded still:
All night from tower to tower they sprang-they sprang from hill
to hill,

Till the proud Peak unfurled the flag o'er Darwin's rocky dales-
Till like volcanoes flared to heaven the stormy hills of Wales-
Till twelve fair counties saw the blaze on Malvern's lonely height-
Till streamed in crimson on the wind the Wrekin's crest of light-
Till broad and fierce the star came forth on Ely's stately fane,
And tower and hamlet rose in arms o'er all the boundless plain;
Till Belvoir's lordly terraces the sign to Lincoln sent,
And Lincoln sped the message on o'er the wide vale of Trent;
Till Skiddaw saw the fire that burned on Gaunt's embattled pile,3
And the red glare on Skiddaw roused the burghers of Carlisle.

KING'S COLLEGE CHAPEL, CAMBRIDGE.*
TAX not the royal saint with vain expense-
With ill-matched aims the architect who planned-

(1) Reeling-a bold use of the word to denote the shaking of the steeples by the bells.

(2) Wards-districts or divisions of the city.

(3) Gaunt's embattled pile- Lancaster castle.

(4) These are noble lines on a noble subject, and may,

be admitted amongst those

without much question,

"Whose very sweetness yieldeth proof That they were born for immortality."

(5) Royal saint-Henry VI. (See note 3, p. 123).

Albeit labouring for a scanty band

Of white-robed scholars only-this immense
And glorious work of fine intelligence!

Give all thou canst; high heaven rejects the lore
Of nicely calculated less or more;

So deemed the man who fashioned for the sense
These lofty pillars, spread that branching roof
Self-poised, and scooped into ten thousand cells,
Where light and shade repose, where music dwells
Lingering and wandering on as loath to die;
Like thoughts whose very sweetness yieldeth proof
That they were born for immortality.

They dreamt not of a perishable home

Who thus could build! Be mine, in hours of fear
Or grovelling thought, to seek a refuge here;
Or through the aisles of Westminster to roam;
Where bubbles burst, and folly's dancing foam
Melts if it cross the threshold; where the wreath1
Of awe-struck wisdom droops :-
-or let my path
Lead to that younger pile, whose sky-like dome
Hath typified by reach of daring art
Infinity's embrace; whose guardian crest,
The silent cross, among the stars shall spread
As now, when she hath also seen her breast
Filled with mementoes, satiate with its part
Of grateful England's overflowing dead.

Wordsworth.

TO SLEEP.4

How many of my poorest subjects

Are at this hour asleep! Sleep, gentle sleep,

(1) Where the wreath, &c.-i. e. where man's boasted wisdom sinks into insignificance a very impressive metaphor.

(2) Younger pile-St. Paul's.

(3) Satiate, &c.-i. e. when her breast shall have received its full share, &c. (4) These lines are put into the mouth of the usurper, Henry IV. Independently of the striking character of the thoughts themselves, the versification is deliciously melodious. The cadence of the line beginning, "And steep," &c., is most aptly modulated; while that beginning, "And lulled," &c., exhibits the most harmonious correspondence between sound and sense-ending in a beautiful dying fall."

66

Nature's soft nurse, how have I frighted thee,
That thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down,
And steep my senses in forgetfulness?
Why rather, sleep, liest thou in smoky cribs,
Upon uneasy pallets stretching thee,

And hushed with buzzing night-flies to thy slumber;
Than in the perfumed chambers of the great,
Under the canopies of costly state,

And lulled with sounds of sweetest melody?
O thou dull god! why liest thou with the vile,
In loathsome beds; and leavest' the kingly couch,
A watch-case, or a common 'larum bell?
Wilt thou upon the high and giddy mast
Seal up the ship-boy's eyes, and rock his brains
In cradle of the rude imperious surge,
And in the visitation of the winds,
Who take the ruffian billows by the top,
Curling their monstrous heads and hanging them
With deafening clamours in the slippery clouds,
That, with the hurly, death itself awakes?
Canst thou, O partial sleep! give thy repose
To the wet sea-boy, in an hour so rude,
And in the calmest and most stillest night,
With all appliances and means to boot,
Deny it to a king? Then, happy low-lie-down!"
Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.

Shakspere.

(1) Thou leavest, &c.-This difficult passage may perhaps be thus interpreted: -Thou, O sleep, forsakest the kingly couch-a luxurious and inviting place of repose as if it were a place designed for wakefulness, like a watch-case, or sentry-box, or an alarm-bell, the very name of which suggests disturbance and inquietude.

(2) And in the visitation, &c.-i. e. and wilt thou keep his eyes sealed up at a time when the boisterous winds are roaring round him (" in the visitation"), and taking "the ruffian billows by the top and curling," &c.

(3) Slippery-because the clouds do not hold them, but let them, as it were, slip down again.

(4) Hurly-a word of uncertain derivation-disturbance, confusion, din. (5) Most stillest-this double superlative is common in our early writers. (6) Happy low-lie-down--the common reading is "happy low, lie down," the meaning of which is obscure. Dr. Warburton altered the text on his own authority, to" happy, lowly clown;" that given above is from Knight's text, and was suggested by Coleridge, taking "low-lie-down" as a sort of compound appellative. The meaning then would be, "Then happy is he whose head lies low," &c.

THE FLIGHT OF XERXES.

I SAW him on the battle-eve,
When, like a king he bore him-
Proud hosts were there in helm and greave,
And prouder chiefs before him:
The warrior, and the warrior's deeds-
The morrow, and the morrow's meeds-
No daunting thought came o'er him;
He looked around him, and his eye
Defiance flashed to earth and sky!

He looked on ocean-its broad breast
Was covered with his fleet;

On earth-and saw from east to west,
His bannered millions meet;

While rock, and glen, and cave, and coast,
Shook with the war-cry of that host,
The thunder of their feet!

He heard the imperial echoes ring-
He heard—and felt himself a king!

I saw him next alone-nor camp,
Nor chief his steps attended;
Nor banner blazed, nor courser's tramp
With war-cries proudly blended.
He stood alone, whom fortune high
So lately seemed to deify;

He, who with Heaven contended,
Fled, like a fugitive and slave!
Behind-the foe; before-the wave!

He stood-fleet, army, treasure gone—
Alone, and in despair!

While wave and wind swept ruthless on,

For they were monarchs there;

And Xerxes in a single bark,

Where late his thousand ships were dark,1

Must all their fury dare ;

What a revenge-a trophy this

For thee, immortal Salamis !

(1) Were dark-darkened the waters.

Miss Jewsbury.

THE HOUR OF DEATH. 1:

LEAVES have their time to fall,

And flowers to wither2 at the north wind's breath,
And stars to set; but all-

Thou hast all seasons for thine own, O Death!.

Day is for mortal care;

Eve for glad meetings round the joyous hearth;
Night for the dreams of sleep, the voice of prayer-
But all for thee, thou mightiest of the earth!

The banquet has its hour,

Its feverish hour of mirth, and song, and wine;
There comes a day for grief's o'erwhelming power,
A time for softer tears-but all are thine !

Youth and the opening rose

May look like things too glorious for decay,2
And smile at thee-but thou art not of those
Who wait the ripened bloom to seize their prey.

We know when moons shall wane,

When summer birds from far shall cross the sea,
When autumn's hue shall touch the golden grain-
But who shall teach us when to look for thee?

Is it when spring's first gale

Comes forth to whisper where the violets lie?
Is it when roses in our path grow pale?
They have one season—all are ours to die!

Thou art where billows foam;

Thou art where music melts upon the air;

Thou art around us in our peaceful home;.

And the world calls us forth-and thou art there!

(1) The measure in which these fine verses are written, though peculiar, considerably enhances the effect of the impressive thoughts they embody.

(2) Wither, decay, fade-These words may perhaps be thus distinguished: :a plant withers when it loses its proper form and shrivels up; fades when it loses its proper colour; decays when it loses its vital strength. We may say correctly -the leaf withers, the flower fades, and the entire plant decays.