And his blood-streaming nostril in agony swims!
Accursed be the fagots that blaze at his feet,
Where his heart shall be thrown, ere it ceases to beat, With the smoke of its ashes to poison the gale
Lochiel. Down, soothless insulter! I trust not the tale! For never shall Albin a destiny meet
So black with dishonor, so foul with retreat.
Though my perishing ranks should be strewed in their gore Like ocean-weeds heaped on the surf-beaten shore,
Lochiel, untainted by flight or by chains,
While the kindling of life in his bosom remains,
Shall victor exult, or in death be laid low,
With his back to the field, and his feet to the foe!
And, leaving in battle no blot on his name,
Look proudly to Heaven from the death-bed of fame!
14. PHILIP VAN ARTEVELDE'S DEFENCE OF HIS REBELLION.- Henry Taylor. You speak of insurrections: bear in mind Against what rule my father and myself Have been insurgent; whom did we supplant? There was a time, so ancient records tell, There were communities, scarce known by name In these degenerate days, but once far-famed,
Where liberty and justice, hand in hand,
Ordered the common weal; where great men grew
Up to their natural eminence, and none,
Saving the wise, just, eloquent, were great.
Whom may we now call free? whom great? whom wise? Whom innocent? - the free are only they
Whom power makes free to execute all ills Their hearts imagine; they are only great
Whose passions nurse them from their cradles up In luxury and lewdness, whom to see Is to despise, whose aspects put to scorn Their station's eminence; the wise, they only Who wait obscurely till the bolts of Heaven Shall break upon the land, and give them light Whereby to walk; the innocent, alas! Poor Innocency lies where four roads meet,
A stone upon her head, a stake driven through her,- For who is innocent that cares to live?
The hand of power doth press the very life
What, then, remains,
But in the cause of nature to stand forth,
And turn this frame of things the right side up?
For this the hour is come, the sword is drawn, And tell your masters vainly they resist. Nature, that slept beneath their poisonous drugs, Is up and stirring, and from north and south, From east and west, from England and from France, From Germany, and Flanders, and Navarre, Shall stand against them like a beast at bay. The blood that they have shed will hide no longer In the blood-sloken soil, but cries to Heaven. Their cruelties and wrongs against the poor Shall quicken into swarms of venomous snakes, And hiss through all the earth, till o'er the earth, That ceases then from hissings and from groans, Rises the song-How are the mighty fallen! And by the peasant's hand! Low lie the proud! And smitten with the weapons of the poor- The blacksmith's hammer and the woodman's axe! Their tale is told; and for that they were rich, And robbed the poor; and for that they were strong, And scourged the weak; and for that they made laws Which turned the sweat of labor's brow to blood, - For these their sins the nations cast them out! These things come to pass
From small beginnings, because God is just.
15. DUTY TO ONE'S COUNTRY.-Hannah More. Born, 1744; died, 1833. OUR country is a whole, my Publius,
Of which we all are parts; nor should a citizen Regard his interests as distinct from hers; No hopes or fears should touch his patriot soul, But what affect her honor or her shame. E'en when in hostile fields he bleeds to save her, "Tis not his blood he loses, 't is his country's; He only pays her back a debt he owes. To her he's bound for birth and education; Her laws secure him from domestic feuds, And from the foreign foe her arms protect him. She lends him honors, dignity, and rank, His wrongs revenges, and his merit pays; And, like a tender and indulgent mother,
Loads him with comforts, and would make his state As blessed as nature and the gods designed it. Such gifts, my son, have their alloy of pain, And let the unworthy wretch, who will not bear His portion of the public burthen, lose The advantages it yields; let him retire From the dear blessings of a social life,
And from the sacred laws which guard those blessings, Renounce the civilized abodes of man,
With kindred brutes one common shelter seek In horrid wilds, and dens, and dreary caves, And with their shaggy tenants share the spoil; Or, if the shaggy hunters miss their prey, From scattered acorns pick a scanty meal; Far from the sweet civilities of life,
There let him live, and vaunt his wretched freedom, While we, obedient to the laws that guard us, Guard them, and live or die, as they decree.
16. ST. PIERRE TO FERRARDO.-James Sheridan Knowles.
St. Pierre, having possessed himself of Ferrardo's dagger, compels him to sign a confession from his own lips, of his villany.
KNOW you me, Duke? Know you the peasant boy, Whom, fifteen years ago, in evil hour,
You chanced to cross upon his native hills, In whose quick eye you saw the subtle spirit, Which suited you, and tempted it? He took Your hint, and followed you to Mantua Without his father's knowledge,
Who, thinking that he had a prop in him Man could not rob him of, and Heaven would spare, Blessed him one night, ere he lay down to sleep,
And, waking in the morning, found him gone!
Move not, or I shall move! You know me.
O, yes! you trained me like a cavalier,
You did, indeed! You gave me masters, Duke, And their instructions quickly I took up,
As they did lay them down! I got the start
Of my cotemporaries! not a youth
Of whom could read, write, speak, command a weapon, Or rule a horse, with me! You gave me all,
All the equipments of a man of honor, But you did find a use for me, and made A slave, a profligate, a pander, of me! I charge you keep your seat!
Ten thousand ducats?
What, Duke! Is such your offer? Give me, Duke, The eyes that looked upon my father's face,
The hands that helped my father to his wish, The feet that flew to do my father's will, The heart that bounded at my father's voice, And say that Mantua were built of ducats, And I could be its Duke at cost of these,
I would not give them for it! Mark me, Duke! I saw a new-made grave in Mantua,
And on the head-stone read my father's name! To seek me, doubtless, hither he had come,
To seek the child that had deserted him, And died here, ere he found me.
Heaven can tell how far he wandered else!
Upon that I knelt an altered man,
And, rising thence, I fled from Mantua;-nor had returned, But tyrant hunger drove me back again
At cost of my dear soul! I have done thy work, Do mine! and sign me that confession straight. I'm in thy power, and I'll have thee in mine! There is the dial, and the sun shines on it, - The shadow on the very point of twelve, My case is desperate! Your signature Of vital moment is unto my peace! My eye is on the dial! Pass the shadow The point of noon, the breadth of but a hair, As can my eye discern — and, that unsigned, The steel is in thy heart! I speak no more!
17. WILLIAM TELL ON SWITZERLAND.-Adaptation from J. S. Knowles. ONCE Switzerland was free! With what a pride I used to walk these hills,-look up to Heaven, And bless God that it was so! It was free From end to end, from cliff to lake 't was free! Free as our torrents are, that leap our rocks, And plough our valleys, without asking leave; Or as our peaks, that wear their caps of snow In very presence of the regal sun!
How happy was I in it, then! I loved Its very storms. Ay, often have I sat
In my boat at night, when midway o'er the lake, The stars went out, and down the mountain gorge The wind came roaring, I have sat and eyed The thunder breaking from his cloud, and smiled To see him shake his lightnings o'er my head, And think I had no master save his own.
You know the jutting cliff, round which a track Up hither winds, whose base is but the brow To such another one, with scanty room For two a-breast to pass? O'ertaken there By the mountain blast, I've laid me flat along, And while gust followed gust more furiously, As if to sweep me o'er the horrid brink,
And I have thought of other lands, whose storms Are summer flaws to those of mine, and just
Have wished me there; - the thought that mine was free Has checked that wish, and I have raised my head, And cried in thraldom to that furious wind, Blow on! This is the land of liberty!
18. WILLIAM TELL AMONG THE MOUNTAINS.-J. S. Knowles.
YE crags and peaks, I'm with you once again! I hold to you the hands you first beheld,
To show they still are free. Methinks I hear A spirit in your echoes answer me,
And bid your tenant welcome to his home Again! O sacred forms, how proud you look! How high you lift your heads into the sky! How huge you are! how mighty, and how free! Ye are the things that tower, that shine, whose smile Makes glad, whose frown is terrible, whose forms, Robed or unrobed, do all the impress wear Of awe divine. Ye guards of liberty, I'm with you once again!-I call to you With all my voice! I hold my hands to you, To show they still are free. I rush to you As though I could embrace you!
I saw an eagle wheeling near its brow O'er the abyss: his broad-expanded wings. Lay calm and motionless upon the air, As if he floated there without their aid, By the sole act of his unlorded will, That buoyed him proudly up. Instinctively I bent my bow; yet kept he rounding still His airy circle, as in the delight
Of measuring the ample range beneath
And round about; absorbed, he heeded not
The death that threatened him. I could not shoot!
'T was liberty! I turned my bow aside,
19. THE FRACTIOUS MAN. - Original Translation from Brueys.
Monsieur Grichard. Blockhead! Would you keep me knocking two hours at the door?
Lolive. I was at work, Sir, in the garden. At the first sound of the knocker, I ran to answer it with such haste, as to fall down on the way.
M. Gri. A great pity it was you did n't break your neck, booby! Why didn't you leave the door open
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