Lance to lance, and horse to horse?

Long years of havoc urge their destin'd course,
And through the kindred squadrons mow their way.
Ye towers of Julius *, London's lasting shame,
With many a foul and midnight murther fed,
Revere his consort's † faith, his father's † fame,
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.

*

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.

§ 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 Boar.

III.

"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,
They melt, they vanish from my eyes.
But oh! what solemn scenes on Snowdon's height
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. [hail!
All-hail, ye genuine kings; Britannia's issue,

"Girt with many a baron bold
Sublime their starry fronts they rear ;
And gorgeous dames, and statesmen old,
In bearded majesty, appear.

* 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.

+ It was the common belief of the Welsh 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 Welsh should regain their sovereignty over this island; which seemed to be accomplished in the house of Tudor.

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,
What strains of vocal transport round her play;
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 Heaven her many-colour'd

wings.

"The verse adorn again Fierce War, and faithful Love,

And Truth severe, by fairy Fiction drest.

In buskin'd measures + move

Pale Grief, and pleasing Pain,

With Horrour, 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.

[cloud

Fond impious man, think'st thou, yon sanguine
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.

* 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.

+ Shakspeare.

† Milton.

§ The succession of poets after Milton's time.

Enough for me: with joy I see
The different doom our Fates assign.
Be thine Despair, and scepter'd Care:

To triumph, and to die, are mine."

He spoke, and headlong from the mountain's height Deep in the roaring tide he plung'd to endless night.

THE FATAL SISTERS. *

AN ODE.

[From the Norse-Tongue.]

IN THE ORCADES OF THORMODUS TORFÆUS; HAFNIE, 1697, FOLIO; AND ALSO IN BARTHOLINUS.

Vitt er oprit fyrir valfalli, &c.

Now the storm begins to lour,

(Haste, the loom of Hell prepare,)
Iron-sleet of arrowy shower
Hurtles in the darken'd air.

* The Valkyriur were female divinities, servants of Odin (or Woden) in the Gothic mythology. Their name signifies choosers of the slain. They were mounted on swift horses, with drawn swords in their hands; and in the throng of battle selected such as were destined to slaughter, and conducted them to Valkalla, the hall of Odin, or paradise of the brave; where they attended the banquet, and served the departed heroes with horns of mead and ale.

Glittering lances are the loom,

Where the dusky warp we strain,
Weaving many a soldier's doom,
Orkney's woe, and Randver's bane.

See the griesly texture grow,
('T is of human entrails made,)
And the weights that play below,
Each a gasping warrior's head.

Shafts for shuttles, dipt in gore,
Shoot the trembling cords along;
Sword, that once a monarch bore,
Keep the tissue close and strong.

Mista, black terrific maid,
Sangrida, and Hilda, see,
Join the wayward work to aid :
'Tis the woof of victory.

Ere the ruddy Sun be set,

Pikes must shiver, javelins sing,
Blade with clattering buckler meet,
Hauberk crash, and helmet ring.

(Weave the crimson web of war,)
Let us go, and let us fly,
Where our friends the conflict share,

Where they triumph, where they die.

As the paths of Fate we tread,

Wading through th' ensanguin'd field;

Gondula, and Geira, spread

O'er the youthful king your shield.