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But redder yet that light shall glow
On Linden's hills of stain'd snow;
And bloodier yet the torrent flow
Of Iser, rolling rapidly.

'Tis morn; but scarce yon level sun
Can pierce the war-clouds, rolling dun
Where furious Frank and fiery Hun

Shout in their sulphurous canopy.

The combat deepens. On, ye brave,
Who rush to glory or the grave!
Wave, Munich! all thy banners wave!
And charge with all thy chivalry!

Few, few shall part where many meet;
The snow shall be their winding-sheet,
And every turf beneath their feet

Shall be a soldier's sepulchre.

Campbell.

SWEET WILLIAM'S FAREWELL.

ALL in the Downs the fleet was moord

The streamers waving in the wind,

When black-eyed Susan came aboard.
"Oh! where shall I my true-love find?
Tell me, ye jovial sailors, tell me true,
If my sweet William sails among the crew."

William, who high upon the yard
Rock'd with the billows to and fro,
Soon as her well-known voice he heard,
He sighed, and cast his eyes below;

The cord slides swiftly through his glowing hands,
And quick as lightning on the deck he stands.

So the sweet lark, high poised in air,
Shuts close his pinions to his breast
(If chance his mate's shrill call he hear),
And drops at once into her nest.
The noblest captain in the British fleet
Might envy William's lip those kisses sweet.

"O Susan, Susan, lovely dear,

My vows shall ever true remain;
Let me kiss off that falling tear;
We only part to meet again.

Change, as ye list, ye winds; my heart shall be
The faithful compass that still points to thee.
"Believe not what the landmen say,

Who tempt with doubt thy constant mind.
They'll tell thee, sailors, when away,

In every port a mistress find;

Yes, yes, believe them when they tell thee so,
For thou art present wheresoe'er I go.

"If to fair India's coast we sail,

Thy eyes are seen in diamonds bright, Thy breath is Afric's spicy gale,

Thy skin is ivory so white.

Thus every beauteous object that I view,
Wakes in my soul some charm of lovely Sue.

"Though battle call me from thy arms,
Let not my pretty Susan mourn;
Though cannons roar, yet, safe from harms,
William shall to his dear return.

Love turns aside the balls that round me fly,
Lest precious tears should drop from Susan's eye."
The boatswain gave the dreadful word,
The sails their swelling bosom spread;

No longer must she stay aboard :

They kiss'd, she sigh'd, he hung his head. Her lessening boat unwilling rows to land: "Adieu!" she cries; and waved her lily hand.

Gay.

66

MAZEPPA AND THE WILD HORSE.

BRING

RING forth the horse!"
brought;

In truth, he was a noble steed,

A Tartar of the Ukraine breed,

The horse was

Who look'd as though the speed of thought
Were in his limbs; but he was wild,

Wild as the wild deer, and untaught,
With spur and bridle undefiled-

'Twas but a day he had been caught;
And snorting, with erected mane,
And struggling fiercely, but in vain,
In the full foam of wrath and dread
To me the desert-born was led :
They bound me on, that menial throng,
Upon his back with many a thong;
Then loosed him with a sudden lash-
Away! away! and on we dash!—
Torrents less rapid and less rash.

Away! away! my breath was gone-
I saw not where he hurried on;
'Twas scarcely yet the break of day,
And on he foamed-away! away !—
The last of human sounds which rose,
As I was darted from my foes,
Was the wild shout of savage laughter,
Which on the wind came roaring after
A moment from that rabble rout;
With sudden wrath I wrenched my head,
And snapped the cord which to the mane
Had bound my neck in lieu of rein,

And, writhing half my form about,

Howled back my curse; but 'midst the tread,
The thunder of my courser's speed,
Perchance they did not hear nor heed:
It vexes me-for I would fain

Have paid their insult back again.

[graphic][merged small]

I paid it well in after days;
There is not of that castle-gate,

Its drawbridge and portcullis' weight,
Stone, bar, moat, bridge, or barrier left;
Nor of its field a blade of grass,

Save what grows on a ridge of wall,

Where stood the hearthstone of the hall...

Away, away, my steed and I,

Upon the pinions of the wind,
All human dwellings left behind;
We sped like meteors through the sky,
When with its crackling sound the night
Is chequered with the northern light;
Town-village-none were on our track,
But a wild plain of far extent,

And bounded by a forest black;

And, save the scarce seen battlement
On distant heights of some strong hold,
Against the Tartars built of old,
No trace of man. The year before
A Turkish army had marched o'er ;
And where the Spahi's hoof hath trod,
The verdure flies the bloody sod ;-
The sky was dull, and dim, and grey,
And a low breeze crept moaning by-
I could have answered with a sigh-
But fast we fled, away, away,—
And I could neither sigh nor pray;
And my cold sweat-drops fell like rain
Upon the courser's bristling mane;
But, snorting still with rage and fear,
He flew upon his far career;
At times I almost thought, indeed,
He must have slacken'd in his speed:
But no-my bound and slender frame
Was nothing to his angry might,
And merely like a spur became;
Each motion which I made to free

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