66 Regardless of the sweeping Whirlwind's sway, “Thát, hush'd in grim repose, expects his evening-prey. II. 3. "Fill high the sparkling bowl, "The rich repast prepare, "Reft of a crown, he yet may share the feast: "Close by the regal chair "Fell Thirst and Famine scowl “A baleful smile upon their baffled Guest. "Heard ye the din of +battle bray, "Lance to lance, and horse to horse? 66 Long years of havock urge their destin'd course, "And thro' the kindred squadrons mow their way. "Ye Towers of Julius, London's lasting shame, "With many a foul and midnight murder fed, "Revere his Consort's faith, his Father's ||fame, * Richard the Second, (as we are told by Archbishop Scroop and the confederate Lords in their manifesto, by Thomas of Walsingham, and all the older Writers) was starved to death. The story of his assassination by Sir Piers, of Exon, is of much later date. + Ruinous civil wars of York and Lancaster. Henry the Sixth, George Duke of Clarence, Edward the Fifth, Richard Duke of York, &c. believed to be murdered secretly in the Tower of London. The oldest part of that structure is vulgarly attributed to Julius Cæsar. § Margaret of Anjou, a woman of heroic spirit, who struggled hard to save her Husband and her Crown. || Henry the Fifth. "And spare the meek *Usurper's holy head. "Above, below, the rose of snow, "Twin'd with her blushing foe, we spread: "The bristled Boar in infant-gore "Wallows beneath the thorny shade." "Now, Brothers, bending o'er th' accursed loom, Stamp we our vengeance deep, and ratify his doom. III. 1. "Edward, lo! to sudden fate "(Weave we the woof. The thread is spun.) § Half of thy heart we consecrate. (The web is wove. The work is done.") Stay, oh stay! nor thus forlorn Leave me unbless'd, unpitied, here to mourn: In yon bright track, that fires the western skies, But oh! what solemn scenes on Snowdon's height * Henry the Sixth, very near being canonized. The line of Lancaster had no right of inheritance to the Crown. †The white and red roses, devices of York and Lancaster. The silver Boar was the badge of Richard the Third; whence he was usually known, in his own time, by the name of the Bour. § Eleanor of Castile died a few years after the conquest of Wales. The heroic proof she gave of her affection for her Lord is well known. The monuments of his regret, and sorrow for the loss of her, are still to be seen at Northampton, Geddington, Waltham, and other places. Descending slow their glittering skirts unroll? Visions of glory, spare my aching sight, 'Ye unborn Ages, crowd not on my soul! 'No more our long-lost * Arthur we bewail. 'All-hail, +ye genuine Kings, Britannia's Issue, hail. III. 2. 'Girt with many a Baron bold 'Sublime their starry fronts they rear; And gorgeous Dames, and Statesmen old 'In the midst a Form divine! 'Her eye proclaims her of the Briton-Line; 'Her lion-port‡, her awe-commanding face, Attemper'd sweet to virgin-grace. 'What strings symphonious tremble in the air, *It was the common belief of the Welch nation, that King Arthur was still alive in Fairy-Land, and should return again to reign over Britain. ↑ Both Merlin and Taliessin had prophesied, that the Welch should regain their sovereignty over this island; which seemed to be accomplished in the House of Tudor. Speed, relating an audience given by Queen Elizabeth to Paul Dzialinski, Ambassador of Poland, says, "And thus she, lionlike rising, daunted the malapert Orator no less with her stately port and majestical deporture, than with the tartnesse of her princelie checkes." 'Hear from the grave, great Taliessin*, hear; They breathe a soul to animate thy clay. 'Bright Rapture calls, and soaring, as she sings, 'Waves in the eye of Heav'n her many-colour'd wings. The verse adorn again III. 3. 'Fierce war, and faithful Love, ' And Truth severe, by fairy Fiction drest. In buskin'd measures move 'Pale Grief, and pleasing Pain, 'With Horror, Tyrant of the throbbing breast. 'A voice as of the Cherub-Choir, 'Gales from blooming Eden bear; § And distant warblings lessen on my ear, 'That lost in long futurity expire. 'Fond impious Man, think'st thou yon sanguine cloud, 'Rais'd by thy breath, has quench'd the Orb of day? To-morrow he repairs the golden flood, 'And warms the nations with redoubled ray. Enough for me: With joy I see * Taliessin, Chief of the Bards, flourished in the sixth Century. His works are still preserved, and his memory held in high veneration among his Countrymen. + Shakespeare. + Milton. The succession of Poets after Milton's time. |