The stubborn spearmen still made good Each stepping where his comrade stood No thought was there of dastard flight; Groom fought like noble, squire like knight, As fearless and as well: Till utter darkness closed her wing O'er their thin host and wounded king. A yet more stirring passage is that of the death-scene of the hero, which closes thus: The war, that for a space did fail, Now, trebly thundering, swelled the gale, A light on Marmion's visage spread, With dying hand, above his head He shook the fragment of his blade, And shouted "Victory!" Charge, Chester, charge! On, Stanley, on!" HOGG, the "Ettrick shepherd," has written many beautiful lyrics: we select two of his most admired. The first is entitled, When the Kye come hame. This is the latest version of this very beautiful pastoral song: Come all ye jolly shepherds that whistle through the glen, What is the greatest bliss that the tongue o' man can name? 'Tis to woo a bonnie lassie when the kye come hame. When the kye come hame, when the kye come hame, 'Tween the gloamin' and the mirk, when the kye come hame. 'Tis not beneath the burgonet, nor yet beneath the crown, 'Tis not on couch of velvet, nor yet on bed of down'Tis beneath the spreading birch, in the dell without a name, Wi' a bonnie, bonnie lassie, when the kye come hame. Then the eye shines so bright, the hale soul to beguile, See yonder pawkie shepherd, that lingers on the hill, Awa' wi' fame and fortune-what comfort can they gi'e? His Skylark is a general favorite, for its rich melody : Bird of the wilderness, blithesome and cumberless, Wild is thy lay and loud, far in the downy cloud, Where, on thy dewy wing, where art thou journeying? Thy lay is in heaven, thy love is on earth. O'er fell and fountain sheen, o'er moor and mountain green, O'er the red streamer that heralds the day, Over the cloudlet dim, over the rainbow's rim, Musical cherub, soar, singing away! Then, when the gloaming comes, low in the heather blooms Emblem of happiness, blest is thy dwelling-place- LAMB-the gentle, genial loss of friends : "Elia"-thus soliloquizes upon the I have had playmates, I have had companions, I have been laughing, I have been carousing, Ghost-like I paced round the haunts of my childhood; Seeking to find the old familiar faces. Friend of my bosom, thou more than a brother, How some they have died, and some they have left me, All, all are gone—the old familiar faces! The genius of KIRKE WHITE, which elicited the beautiful tribute of Byron, is seen in the following lines, addressed to An Early Primrose: Mild offspring of a dark and sullen sire! Was nursed in whirling storms, and cradled in the winds: Thee, when young Spring first questioned Winter's sway, And dared the sturdy blusterer to the fight, Thee on this bank he threw, to mark his victory. In this low vale, the promise of the year, So virtue blooms, brought forth amid the storms Of life she rears her head, obscure and unobserved; While every bleaching breeze that on her blows, And hardens her to bear serene the ills of life. Hear MONTGOMERY'S glowing apostrophe to Home: There is a spot of earth supremely blest― * The beautiful lines which he wrote upon Burns, will win a welcome from every reader : What bird, in beauty, flight, or song, can with the Bard compare, change; He was not one, but all by turns, with transmigration strange : The blackbird, oracle of Spring, when flowed his moral lay; The swallow, wheeling on the wing, capriciously at play; |