THE FALL OF D'ASSAS. Still with a dreamy sense of ecstasy Fills thy soft Summer air:-and while my glance Queen of the Summer sea. "Favor'd and crown'd of the earth and sky! Wandering in moonlight through fone and tower "Let the wine flow in thy marble halls! Forget that thou art not free!" So doth the Syren sing, while sparkling waves And Roman tombs, the echoes of thy shore THE FALL OF D'ASSAS. A BALLAD OF FRANCE. 373 The Chevalier D'Assas, called the French Decius, fell nobly whilst reconnoitering a wood, near Closterkamp, by night. He had left his regiment, that of Auvergne, at a short distance, and was sud denly surrounded by an ambuscade of the enemy, who threatened him with instant death if he made the least sign of their vicinity. With their bayonets at his breast, he raised his voice and, calling aloud "A moi, Auvergne! ces sont les ennemis !" fell, pierced with mortal blows.] ALONE through gloomy forest-shades A soldier went by night; No moonbeam pierced the dusky glades, Yet on his vigil's midnight round Uncheck'd by aught of boding sound VOL. II.-32 Where were his thoughts that lonely hour? Wandering from battles lost and won, The rolling of the wide Garonne, -Hush! hark!-did stealing steps go by, Hark, yet again!-and from his hand, -Still, at the bayonet's point he stood, THE BURIAL OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. AT CAEN IN NORMANDY-1087. At the day appointed for the king's interment, Prince Henry, his third son, the Norman prelates, and a multitude of clergy and peo ple, assembled in the Church of St. Stephen, which the conqueror had founded. The mass had been performed, the corpse was place on the bier, and the Bishop of Evreux had pronounced the panegyric on the deceased, when a voice from the crowd exclaimed, He whom you have praised was a robber. The very land on which you stand is mine. By violence he took it from my father; and, in the name of God, I forbid you to bury him in it.' The speaker was Asceline Fitz Arthur, who had often, but fruitlessly, sought reparation from the justice of William. After some debate, the prelates called him to them, paid him sixty shillings for the grave, and promised that he should receive the full value of his land. The ceremony was then continued, and the body of the king deposited in a coffin of stone."]-Lingard, vol. ii. p. 98. LOWLY upon his bier The royal conqueror lay; THE BURIAL OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 375 Baron and chief stood near, Down the long minster's aisle Crowds mutely gazing stream'd, Through mists of incense gleam'd. "By the violated hearth Which made way for yon proud shrine; By the harvest which this earth Hath borne for me and mine; By the house e'en here o'erthrown, On my brethren's native spot; Hence! with his dark renown, Cumber our birthplace not! "Will my sire's unransom'd field, O'er which your censers wave, To the buried spoiler yield Soft slumbers in the grave? "The tree before him fell Which we cherish'd many a year, But its deep root yet shall swell, "The land that I have till'd Hath yet its brooding breast With my home's white ashes fill'd, And it shall not give him rest! "Each pillar's massy bed Hath been wet by weeping eyesAway! bestow your dead Where no wrong against him cries." -Shame glow'd on each dark face Of those proud and steel-girt men, And they bought with gold a place For their leader's dust e'en then. A little earth for him Whose banner flew so far! The name, a nation's star! One deep voice thus arose From a heart which wrongs had riven: That were but heard in heaven? LYRICS. SONGS OF A GUARDIAN SPIRIT. 1.-NEAR THEE, STILL NEAR THEE!* NEAR thee, still near thee!-o'er thy pathway gliding, Not 'midst the festal throng, In halls of mirth and song; Know then that love is nigh! When the night's whisper o'er thy harp-strings creeping, Or the sea-music on the sounding shore, Or breezy anthems through the forest sweeping, Shall nove thy trembling spirit to adore; When every thought and prayer We loved to breathe and share, On thy ful heart returning, Shall wake its voiceless yearning ; Then feel me near once more! Near thee, still near thee!-trust thy soul's deep dreaming Even when I soar where fiery stars are beaming, *This piece has been set to music of most impressive beauty by John Lodge, Esq., for whose compositions several of the author's songs were written. SONGS OF A GUARDIAN SPIRIT. 1.-OH! DROOP THOU NOT. "They sin who tell us love can die In heaven ambition cannot dwell, Earthly these passions, as of earth They perish where they drew their birth. Its holy flame for ever burneth ; From heaven it came, to heaven returneth." GH! droop thou not, my gentle earthly love! I bore through death, to brighter lands above Yes! the deep memory of our holy tears, Southey Our suffering love, through long devoted years, It was not vain, the hallow'd and the tried- Still, though unseen, still hovering at thy side, From our own paths, our love's attesting bowers, In the deep calm of Midnight's whispering hours, Not lone, when by the haunted stream thou weepest, Murmurs of thoughts, the richest and the deepest, Not lone, when mournfully some strain awaking From thy soft eyes the sudden tears are breaking, Not lone, when upwards, in fond visions turning Thou seek'st my home, where solemn stars are burning, My home is near thee, loved one! and around thee, 'Though still mortality's thick cloud hath bound thee, Hear its low voice, not deem thyself forsaken Let faith be given To the still tones which oft our being waken- 377 |