CVIII. Yet, peace be with their ashes--for by them, If merited, the penalty is paid; It is not ours to judge, far less condemn; The hour must come when such things sball be made Known unto all, or hope and dread allay'd By slumber, on one pillow, in the dust, Which, thus much we are sure, must lie decay'd ; And when it shall revive, as is our trust, CIX. To their most great and growing region, where CX. Italia! too, Italia ! looking on thee. Full flashes on the soul the light of ages, Since the fierce Carthaginian almost won thee, To the last halo of the chiefs and sages, Who glorify thy consecrated pages; Thou were the throne and grave of empires : still, The fount at which the panting mind assuages Her thirst of knowledge, quaffing there her fill, , Flows from the eternal source of Rome's imperial hill. CXI. chi. ... Is'a sierp task of soul :- No matter,mji is taught.. CXII. CXIII. Of thoughts which were not their thoughts, and still Had I not filed (24) my mind, which thus itself subdued. CXIV. I have not loved the world, nor the world nie, But let us part fair foes ; I do believe, Though I have found them not, that there may be Words which are things,--hopes which will pot deceive And virtues which are merciful, nor weave Snares for the failing: I would also deem O'er others' griefs that some sincerely grieve; (25) That two, or one, are almost what they seem,- . CXV. And reach into thy heart, when mine is cold, CXVI. Yet this was in my nature:-as it is, CXVII. And an attainment, all would be in vain, CXVIII. Fain would I waft such blessing upon thee, END OF CANTO I11. NOTES TO THE THIRD CANTO. 1.“ Pride of place” is a term of falconry, and meaps. the highest pitch of fight. 2. See the famous Song on Harmodius and Aristogiton. The best English translation is in Bland's Anthology, by Mr. Denman, “ With inyrtle my sword will I wreathe,” &c. • 3. On the night previous to the action, it is said that a ball was given at Brussels. 4. Sir Evan Cameron, and his descendant Donald, the “gentle Lochiel" of the « forty five." 6. The wood of Soignies is supposed to be a remnant of the“ forest of Ardennes,” famous in Boiordo's Orlando and immortal in Shakespear's “ As you like it.” 7. My guide from Mount St. Jean over the field seem. ed intelligent and accurate, The place where Major Howard tell was not far from two tall and solitary trees which stand a few yards from each other at a pathway's side. Beneath these he died and was buried. The body has since been removed to England. 8. The (fabled) apples on the brink of the lake Asphaltes, where said to be fair without, and within ashes-Vide Tacitus, Histor. 1. 5. 7. 9. The great error of Napoleon, “if we have writ our annals true," was a continued obtrusion on mankind of his want of all community of feeling for or with them; perhaps more offensive to human vanity than the active cruelty of more trembling and suspicious tyranny. was King James's question on meetiog Johnny Armstrong and bis followers in full accoutrements. See the Ballad. 11. The castle. of Drachenfels stands, on the highest summit of the “ Seven mountains," over the Rhine banks. 12. The monument of the young and lamented General Marceau (killed by a rifle-ball at Alterkirchen on the last day of the fourth year of the Frencb republic) still remains as described. .. 13. Ehrenbreitstein, i. e.“ the broad stone of honour," one of the strongest fortresses in Europe, was dismantled and blown up by the French at the truce of Leoben. 14. The chapel is destroyed, and the pyramid of bones disminished to a small number by the Burguudian legion in the service of France, who anxiously effaced this record of their ancestors' less successful invasions. 15. Aventicum (near Morat) was the Roman capital of Helvetia, where Avenches now stands. 16. Julia Alpinula, a young Aventian priestess, died soou after a vain endeavour to save her father, condemn. ed to death as a traitor by Aulus Cæcina. Her epitaph was discovered many years ago ;it is thus Julia Alpinula Hic jaceo Dexe Aventiæ Sacerdos; Vixi anos XXIII, I know of no human composition so affecting as this, nor a history of deeper interest. |