William Edmondstoune Aptoun THE EXECUTION OF MONTROSE COME hither, Evan Cameron ! Old forms go trooping past: 'T was I that led the Highland host I've told thee how the Southrons fell A traitor sold him to his foes O deed of deathless shame! I charge thee, boy, if e'er thou meet Or back'd by armed men Face him, as thou wouldst face the man They brought him to the Watergate, And blew the note with yell and shout It would have made a brave man's heart To watch the keen malignant eyes There stood the Whig west-country lords, There sat their gaunt and wither'd dames, And their daughters all a-row. And every open window Was full as full might be But when he came, though pale and wan, For seven long years thou hast not dar'd To look him in the face." Had I been there with sword in hand, That day through high Dunedin's streets Had borne us backwards then! Or I, and all who bore my name, It might not be. They placed him next Within the solemn hall, Where once the Scottish kings were thron'd Amidst their nobles all. But there was dust of vulgar feet "Now, by my faith as belted knight, "There is a chamber far away Where sleep the good and brave, But a better place ye have nam'd for me Than by my father's grave. For truth and right, 'gainst treason's might, This hand hath always striven, And ye raise it up for a witness still In the eye of earth and heaven. Then nail my head on yonder tower, Give every town a limb, Ah, God! that ghastly gibbet! The great tall spectral skeleton, The clouds are clear'd away, And the glorious sun once more looks down Amidst the dazzling day. "He is coming! he is coming!" Like a bridegroom from his room, Came the hero from his prison To the scaffold and the doom. There was glory on his forehead, There was lustre in his eye, And he never walk'd to battle More proudly than to die : There was color in his visage, Though the cheeks of all were wan, And they marvell'd as they saw him pass That great and goodly man! He mounted up the scaffold, And he turn'd him to the crowd; The eye of God shone through; As though the thunder slept within - POETS OF QUALITY Thomas Love Peacock THE MEN OF GOTHAM SEAMEN three ! what men be ye? To rake the moon from out the sea. The bowl goes trim; the moon doth shine; And our ballast is old wine : And your ballast is old wine. Who art thou, so fast adrift? Fear ye not the waves that roll? No: in charmed bowl we swim. What the charm that floats the bowl? The bowl goes trim; the moon doth shine; And our ballast is old wine : THE WAR-SONG OF DINAS THE mountain sheep are sweeter, On Dyfed's richest valley, But we conquer'd them, and slew them. As we drove our prize at leisure, We there, in strife bewildering, We brought away from battle, And the head of him who own'd them: His head was borne before us; His wine and beasts supplied our feasts, And his overthrow, our chorus. MARGARET LOVE PEACOCK THREE YEARS OLD LONG night succeeds thy little day : The half-form'd speech of artless thought, That spoke a mind beyond thy years, The song, the dance by Nature taught, The sunny smiles, the transient tears, The symmetry of face and form, The eye with light and life replete, The little heart so fondly warm, The voice so musically sweet, — These, lost to hope, in memory yet Around the hearts that lov'd thee cling, Shadowing with long and vain regret The too fair promise of thy Spring. Winthrop Mackworth Praed THE VICAR SOME years ago, ere time and taste St. Mary's Hill and Sandy Thicket Back flew the bolt of lissom lath; Fair Margaret, in her tidy kirtle, Led the lorn traveller up the path Through clean-clipp'd rows of box and myrtle; And Don and Sancho, Tramp and Tray, Upon the parlor steps collected, Wagg'd all their tails, and seem'd to say, "Our master knows you; you're expected." Up rose the reverend Doctor Brown, Up rose the doctor's "winsome marrow; The lady laid her knitting down, Her husband clasp'd his ponderous Bar row. Whate'er the stranger's caste or creed, Pundit or papist, saint or sinner, He found a stable for his steed, And welcome for himself, and dinner. If, when he reach'd his journey's end, And warm'd himself in court or college, He had not gain'd an honest friend, And twenty curious scraps of knowledge; If he departed as he came, With no new light on love or liquor,Good sooth, the traveller was to blame, And not the vicarage, nor the vicar. His talk was like a stream which runs With rapid change from rocks to roses; It slipp'd from politics to puns; It pass'd from Mahomet to Moses; Beginning with the laws which keep The planets in their radiant courses, He was a shrewd and sound divine, And when, by dint of And dream'd of tasting pork to-morrow. His sermon never said or show'd From Jerome, or from Athanasius; For all who understood admir'd, And some who did not understand them. He wrote too, in a quiet way, Small treatises, and smaller verses, And sage remarks on chalk and clay, And hints to noble lords and nurses; True histories of last year's ghost; Lines to a ringlet or a turban ; He did not think all mischief fair, Although he had a knack of joking ; He did not make himself a bear, Although he had a taste for smoking; And when religious sects ran mad, He held, in spite of all his learning, That if a man's belief is bad, It will not be improv'd by burning. And he was kind, and lov'd to sit In the low hut or garnish'd cottage, And praise the farmer's homely wit, And share the widow's homelier pottage. At his approach complaint grew mild, And when his hand unbarr'd the shutter The clammy lips of fever smil'd The welcome which they could not utter. He always had a tale for me Of Julius Cæsar or of Venus; From him I learn'd the rule of three, Cat's-cradle, leap-frog, and Quæ genus. I used to singe his powder'd wig, To steal the staff he put such trust in, And make the puppy dance a jig When he began to quote Augustine. |