All was still, save by fits, when the eagle was yelling, And starting around me the echoes replied. On the right, Striden-edge round the Red-tarn was bending, And Catchedicam* its left verge was defending, Dark green was the spot, 'mid the brown mountain heather, Where the pilgrim of nature lay stretched in decay, Like the corpse of an outcast abandoned to weather, Till the mountain winds wasted the tenantless clay. Nor yet quite deserted, though lonely extended, For, faithful in death, his mute favorite attended, The much-loved remains of her master defended, And chased the hill-fox and the raven away. How long didst thou think that his silence was slumber? When the wind waved his garment, how oft didst thou start? How many long days and long weeks didst thou num ber, Ere he faded before thee, the friend of thy heart? And, O, was it meet, that—no requiem read o'er him, No mother to weep, and no friend to deplore him, And thou, little guardian, alone stretched before him Unhonored the pilgrim from life should depart? When a prince to the fate of a peasant has yielded *Hills in the Lake District. THE REAPER AND THE FLOWERS. 187 Through the courts, at deep midnight, the torches are gleaming, In the proudly-arched chapel the banners are beaming, Far down the long aisle sacred music is streaming, Lamenting a chief of the people should fall. But meeter for thee, gentle lover of nature, To lay down thy head like the meek mountain lamb; When, wildered, he drops from some cliff huge in stature, And draws his last sob by the side of his dam; And more stately thy couch by this desert lake lying, Thy obsequies sung by the gray plover flying, With one faithful friend but to witness thy dying, In the arms of Hellvellyn and Catchedicam. THE REAPER AND THE FLOWERS.- Longfellow. THERE is a reaper, whose name is Death, He reaps the bearded grain at a breath, "Shall I have nought that is fair?" saith he; "Have nought but the bearded grain? Though the breath of these flowers is sweet to me, I will give them all back again." He gazed at the flowers with tearful eyes, He kissed their drooping leaves; It was for the Lord of Paradise He bound them in his sheaves 188 THE FLOWERS OF THE FOREST. "My Lord has need of these flowerets gay," The reaper said, and smiled; "They shall all bloom in fields of light, And saints, upon their garments white, And the mother gave, in tears and pain, O, not in cruelty, not in wrath, The reaper came that day; 'Twas an angel visited the green earth, THE FLOWERS OF THE FOREST. - Mrs. Cockburn. I'VE seen the smiling of Fortune beguiling, I've seen the forest adorned of the foremost With flowers of the fairest, both pleasant and gay; Full sweet was their blooming, their scent the air per fuming; But now they are withered, and a' wede away. THE TRAGEDY OF THE LAC DE GAUBE. 189 I've seen the morning with gold the hills adorning, And loud tempest storming before the mid-day;I've seen Tweed's silver streams, glittering in the sunny beams, Grow drumly and dark, as he rolled on his way. O fickle fortune! why this cruel sporting? O, why thus perplex us poor sons of a day? No more your smiles can cheer me, no more your frowns can fear me, Since the flowers of the forest are a' wede away. THE TRAGEDY OF THE LAC DE GAUBE. - Milnes. THE marriage-blessing on their brows, And lands of gay Garonne, they reach They loiter not where Argeles, In pasture, grape, and grain; They pause, contented with the wealth That either bosom fills. * Discolored. 190 THE TRAGEDY OF THE LAC DE GAUBE. There is a lake, a small, round lake, O, gayly shone that little lake, How light from stone to stone they leapt ! How trippingly they ran! To scale the rock and gain the marge See, dearest, this primeval boat, I was a famous rower once, "The clumsy oar! the laggard boat! The work is harder than I thought, |