Oldalképek
PDF
ePub

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

LESSON CXC.-THE VISION OF LIBERTY.-HENRY WARE, JE.

The evening heavens were calm and bright;
No dimness rested on the glittering light,

That sparkled from that wilderness of worlds on high;
Those distant suns burned on with quiet ray;

The placid planets held their modest way;

And silence reigned profound o'er earth, and sea, and sky.

Oh! what an hour for lofty thought!
My spirit burned within; I caught
A holy inspiration from the hour.

Around me, man and nature slept;
Alone my solemn watch I kept,

Till morning dawned, and sleep resumed her power.

A vision passed upon my soul.

I still was gazing up to heaven,
As in the early hours of even;
I still beheld the planets roll,

And all those countless sons of light

Flame from the broad blue arch, and guide the moonless

night.

When lo! upon the plain,

Just where it skirts the swelling main,

A massive castle, far and high,

In towering grandeur broke upon my eye.

Proud in its strength and years, the ponderous pile
Flung up its time-defying towers;

Its lofty gates seemed scornfully to smile
At vain assault of human powers,

And threats and arms deride.

Its gorgeous carvings of heraldic pride,
In giant masses graced the walls above;
And dungeons yawned below.

Yet ivy there and moss their garlands wove,
Grave, silent chroniclers of time's protracted flow

Bursting on my steadfast gaze,

See, within, a sudden blaze!

So small at first, the zephyr's slightest swell,
That scarcely stirs the pine-tree top,
Nor makes the withered leaf to drop,

The feeble fluttering of that flame would quell.

But soon it spread,—

Waving, rushing, fierce, and red,

From wall to wall, from tower to tower,
Raging with resistless power;

5 Till every fervent pillar glowed,

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

And every stone seemed burning coal,
Instinct with living heat that flowed

Like streaming radiance from the kindled pole.

Beautiful, fearful, grand,

Silent as death, I saw the fabric stand.

At length a crackling sound began ;

From side to side, throughout the pile it ran;
And louder yet and louder grew,

Till now in rattling thunder-peals it grew;
Huge shivered fragments from the pillars broke,
Like fiery sparkles from the anvil's stroke.
The shattered walls were rent and riven,
And piecemeal driven,

Like blazing comets through the troubled sky.
'Tis done; what centuries had reared,
In quick explosion disappeared,

Nor even its ruins met my wondering eye.

But in their place,—

Bright with more than human grace,

Robed in more than mortal seeming,

Radiant glory in her face,

And eyes with heaven's own brightness beaming,— Rose a fair majestic form,

As the mild rainbow from the storm.

I marked her smile, I knew her eye;
And when, with gesture of command,
She waved aloft the cap-crowned wand,
My slumbers fled mid shouts of "Liberty!"

Read ye

the dream? and know ye not
How truly it unlocked the world of fate?
Went not the flame from this illustrious spot,
And spreads it not, and burns in every state?
And when their old and cumbrous walls,
Filled with this spirit, glow intense,
Vainly they reared their impotent defence:
The fabric falls!

5

10

That fervent energy must spread,

Till despotism's towers be overthrown;
And in their stead,

Liberty stands alone!

Hasten the day, just Heaven!

Accomplish thy design;

And let the blessings thou hast freely given,
Freely on all men shine;

Till equal rights be equally enjoyed,

And human power for human good employed;
Till law, not man, the sovereign rule sustain,
And peace and virtue undisputed reign.

LESSON CXCI.-SHAKSPEARE.-CHARLES Sprague.

Then Shakspeare rose !—
Across the trembling strings
His daring hand he flings,

And lo! a new creation glows!—

5 There clustering round, submissive to his will, Fate's vassal train his high commands fulfil.

10

15

20

Madness, with his frightful scream,
Vengeance, leaning on his lance,
Avarice, with his blade and beam,
Hatred, blasting with a glance,

Remorse, that weeps, and Rage, that roars,

And Jealousy, that dotes, but dooms, and murders, yet adores.

Mirth, his face with sunbeams lit,
Waking Laughter's merry swell,

Arm in arm with fresh-eyed Wit,

That waves his tingling lash, while Folly shakes his bell.
From the feudal tower pale Terror rushing,
Where the prophet bird's wail

Dies along the dull gale,

And the sleeping monarch's blood is gushing.

Despair, that haunts the gurgling stream,
Kissed by the virgin moon's cold beam,

Where some lost maid wild chaplets wreathes,
And swan-like there her own dirge breathes,

5

10

20

Then broken-hearted sinks to rest,

Beneath the bubbling wave that shrouds her maniac breast.

Young Love, with eye of tender gloom,
Now drooping o'er the hallowed tomb,
Where his plighted victims lie,

Where they met, but met to die :—
And now, when crimson buds are sleeping,
Through the dewy arbor peeping,

Where beauty's child, the frowning world forgot,
To youth's devoted tale is listening,

Rapture on her dark lash glistening,

While fairies leave their cowslip cells, and guard the happy spot.

Thus rise the phantom throng,

Obedient to their master's song,

15 And lead in willing chain the wondering soul along.
For other worlds war's great one sighed in vain,-
O'er other worlds see Shakspeare rove and reign!
The rapt magician of his own wild lay,
Earth and her tribes his mystic wand obey;
Old ocean trembles, thunder cracks the skies,
Air teems with shapes and tell-tale spectres rise:
Night's paltering hags their fearful orgies keep,
And faithless guilt unseals the lip of sleep:
Time yields his trophies up, and death restores
The mouldered victims of his voiceless shores.
The fireside legend, and the faded page,

25

30

The crime that cursed, the deed that blessed an age,
All, all come forth.-the good to charm and cheer,
To scourge bold vice, and start the generous tear;
With pictured folly gazing fools to shame,
And guide young Glory's foot along the path of fame.

LESSON CXCII.-SPEECH OF RIENZI TO THE ROMANS.-Miss
Mitford.

Rienzi. Friends,

I come not here to talk. Ye know too well The story of our thraldom. We are slaves! The bright sun rises to his course, and lights 5 A race of slaves! He sets, and his last beam Falls on a slave: not such as, swept along

By the full tide of power, the conqueror leads
To crimson glory and undying fame,
But base, ignoble slaves,-slaves to a horde
Of petty tyrants, feudal despots; lords,
5 Rich in some dozen paltry villages,—
Strong in some hundred spearmen,-only great
In that strange spell, a name.

Each hour, dark fraud,

Or open rapine, or protected murder,

Cries out against them. But this very day,

10 An honest man, my neighbor, there he stands,-
Was struck,-struck like a dog, by one who wore
The badge of Ursini; because, forsooth,
He tossed not high his ready cap in air,
Nor lifted up his voice in servile shouts,

15 At sight of that great ruffian. Be we men,

And suffer such dishonor? Men, and wash not
The stain away in blood? Such shames are common
I have known deeper wrongs. I, that speak to ye,
I had a brother once, a gracious boy,

20 Full of all gentleness, of calmest hope,

Of sweet and quiet joy," there was the look
Of heaven upon his face, which limners give
To the beloved disciple." How I loved

That gracious boy! Younger by fifteen years,
25 Brother, at once, and son! "He left my side,
A summer bloom on his fair cheeks,-a smile
Parting his innocent lips." In one short hour
The pretty, harmless boy was slain! I saw
The corse, the mangled corse, and then I cried
30 For vengeance!-Rouse, ye Romans!-Rouse, ye slaves
Have ye brave sons? Look in the next fierce brawl
To see them die. Have ye fair daughters? Look
To see them live, torn from your arms, distained,
Dishonored; and, if ye dare call for justice,
35 Be answered by the lash. Yet, this is Rome,
That sat on her seven hills, and from her throne
Of beauty ruled the world! Yet, we are Romans.

Why, in that elder day, to be a Roman

Was greater than a king! And once again,-
40 Hear me, ye walls, that echoed to the tread
Of either Brutus! once again I swear,

The eternal city shall be free! her sons
Shall walk with princes.

« ElőzőTovább »