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"STRIKE FOR YOUR ALTARS AND YOUR FIRES; STRIKE FOR THE GREEN GRAVES OF YOUR SIRES."-HALLECK.

232

66 THE PURPOSE FIRM IS EQUAL TO THE DEED."-YOUNG.

THE BATTLE OF IVRY.

He looked upon his people, and a tear was in his eye;
He looked upon the traitors, and his glance was stern and
high;

Right graciously he smiled on us, as rolled from wing to wing,
Down all our line, a deafening shout, "God save our lord the
King!"

"And if my standard-bearer fall, as fall full well he may—
For never saw I promise yet of such a bloody fray-

Press where ye see my white plume shine amidst the ranks of

war,

And be your oriflamme to-day the helmet of Navarre !"

Hurrah! the foes are moving! Hark to the mingled din
Of fife and steed, and trump and drum, and roaring culverin ! *
The fiery Duke is pricking fast across St. Andre's plain,
With all the hireling chivalry of Guelders and Almayne.
Now, by the lips of those we love, fair gentlemen of France,
Charge for the Golden Lilies now-upon them with the lance!
A thousand spurs are striking deep, a thousand spears in rest-
A thousand knights are pressing close behind the snow-white
crest;

And in they burst, and on they rushed, while, like a guiding
star,

Amidst the thickest carnage blazed the helmet of Navarre !

Now God be praised! the day is ours! Mayenne hath turned
his rein;

D'Aumale + hath cried for quarter; the Flemish Count is
slain :

Their ranks are breaking like thin clouds before a Biscay gale;
The field is heaped with bleeding steeds, and flags, and cloven
mail.

* A species of ancient cannon.

†The Governor of Paris.

Count Egmont, commander of the Flemish troops sent by Philip II.

SWEET ARE THE PLEASURES THAT TO VERSE BELONG."-KEATS.

"WILD AMBITION LOVES TO SLIDE, NOT STAND, AND FORTUNE'S IT PREFERS TO VIRTUE'S LAND "-DRYDEN.

"ALONE THAT WORN-OUT WORD, SO COLDLY SPOKEN, AND SO IDLY HEARD !"-LORD LYTTON.

66 HOW BLESSINGS BRIGHTEN AS THEY TAKE THEIR FLIGHT!"-YOUNG.

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And then we thought of vengeance; and all along our van,
'Remember St. Bartholomew !" was passed from man to man.
But out spoke gentle Henry-"No Frenchman is my foe :

Down, down with every foreigner! but let your brethren go."
Oh! was there ever such a knight, in friendship or in war,
As our sovereign lord King Henry, the Soldier of Navarre ?

Ho! maidens of Vienna-ho! matrons of Lucerne,

Weep, weep, and rend your hair for those who never shall

return;

Ho! Philip, send for charity thy Mexican pistoles,

That Antwerp monks may sing a mass for thy poor spearmen's
souls;

Ho! gallant nobles of the League, look that your arms be
bright;

Ho! burghers of Saint Genevieve,† keep watch and ward to-
night.

For our God hath crushed the tyrant, our God hath raised the
slave,

And mocked the counsel of the wise and the valour of the brave.
Then glory to His holy name, from whom all glories are!
And glory to our sovereign lord, King Henry of Navarre ! ‡

* Philip II., of Spain.

[LORD MACAULAY.]

† Paris, St. Genevieve being the patron saint of the city.

The battle of Ivry (near Evreux, in the north-west of France) was fought on the 14th of March 1590, between the Huguenot forces, under Henry IV., and the army of the Roman Catholic League, led by the Duke of Guise. Henry of Navarre won a complete victory.

"6

THE CHOICE AND MASTER-SPIRITS OF THIS AGE. -SHAKSPEARE.

"STILL IN THY RIGHT HAND CARRY GENTLE PEACE, TO SILENCE ENVIOUS TONGUES."-SHAKSPEARE,

"I SEE THEM WALKING IN AN AIR OF GLORY, WHOSE LIGHT DOTH TRAMPLE ON MY DAYS."-VAUGHAN.

234

"THUS WOE SUCCEEDS A WOE, AS WAVE a wave."-HERRICK.

HANNIBAL'S OATH.

HANNIBAL'S OATH.

ND the night was dark and calm,

There was not a breath of air,
The leaves of the grove were still,
As the presence of death was there :

Only a moaning sound

Came from the distant sea;
It was as if, like life,

It had no tranquillity.

A warrior and a child

Passed through the sacred wood,
Which, like a mystery,

Around the temple stood.

The warrior's brow was worn
With the weight of casque and plume,
And sunburnt was his cheek,
And his eye and brow were gloom.

The child was young and fair,
But the forehead large and high,
And the dark eyes flashing light
Seemed to feel their destiny.

They entered in the temple,

And stood before the shrine;

It streamed with the victim's blood,

With incense and with wine.

"THE POWER OF THOUGHT, THE MAGIC OF THE MIND."-BYRON.

"A VOICE THAT, IN THE DISTANCE FAR AWAY, WAKENS THE SLUMBERING AGES."-H. TAYLOR.

AND FOR A CLOAK, WHAT IS THERE THAT CAN BE

THE ROMANCE OF THE SWAN'S NEST. 235

The ground rocked beneath their feet,

The thunder shook the dome;
But the boy stood firm, and swore

Eternal hate to Rome.

There's a page in history

O'er which tears of blood were wept,
And that page is the record

How that oath of hate was kept.*

[L. E. LANDON (Mrs. MACLEAN), an English poetess and novelist, born 1802, died 1838, at Cape Coast Castle, on the west coast of Africa, under sorrowful circumstances. Her best works are, "The Improvisatore," "Ethel Churchill," and "Francesca Carrara.' She is best known as L. E.L.]

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"TIS STRANGE TO THINK, IF WE COULD FLING ASIDE THE MASK AND MANTLE THAT LOVE WEARS FROM PRIDE,

HOW MUCH WOULD BE, WE NOW SO LITTLE guess, deEP IN EACH HEART'S UNDREAMED, UNSOUGHT RECESS."-L. E. LANDON.

THE ROMANCE OF THE SWAN'S NEST.

ITTLE Ellie sits alone,

'Mid the beeches of a meadow,
By a stream-side on the grass;
And the trees are showering down

Doubles of their leaves in shadow
On her shining hair and face.
She has thrown her bonnet by,
And her feet she has been dipping
In the shallow water's flow:
Now she holds them nakedly
In her hands, all sleek and dripping,

While she rocketh to and fro.

* Hannibal was only nine years old when he accompanied his father, Hamilcar, the Carthaginian general, to Spain, and was made to swear upon the altar eternal hostility to Rome, the enemy of his country.

"The story

was told by Hannibal himself, many years afterwards, to Antiochus, and is
one of the best attested in ancient history."-E. K. Bunbury, in Dr.
Smith's "Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography."

SO DIFFICULT TO PIERCE AS GAIETY ?"-L. E. LANDON.

"THE OLD MAN MAY WEEP FOR HIS TO-MORROW, WHICH IS LOST IN LONG ago."-e. B. BROWNING.

236

"THE OLD WOUND, IF STRICKEN, IS The sorest :

THE ROMANCE OF THE SWAN'S NEST.

Little Ellie sits alone;

And the smile she softly uses

Fills the silence like a speech,
While she thinks what shall be done;
And the sweetest pleasure chooses

For her future within reach.

Little Ellie, in her smile,
Chooses "I will have a lover,

Riding on a steed of steeds;
He shall love me without guile;
And to him I will discover

The swan's nest among the reeds.

"And the steed shall be red-roan;
And the lover shall be noble,
With an eye that takes the breath :
And the lute he plays upon
Shall strike ladies into trouble,
As his sword strikes men to death.

"And the steed it shall be shod
In silver, housed in azure;

And the mane shall swim the wind;
And the hoofs along the sod
Shall flash onward and keep measure,
Till the shepherds look behind.

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THE OLD HOPE IS HARDEST TO BE LOST."-E. B. BROWNING.

"NOW TELL THE POOR YOUNG CHILDREN, O MY BROTHERS, TO LOOK UP TO HIM AND PRAY."-E. B. BROWNING.

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