SONG OF THE CHOUAN. (SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN FOUND IN CHATEAU DE LA CHASLIERE.) What appeareth?—As a star, Seize the scythe and bill, And tear the plough asunder Let the jagged nails come through— And turn their leeches pale with wonder- We die, 'tis true, but die With self-carved trophies tomb'd; A forced procession sings the requiem o'er us ;- For, lo! afar, like dimly-gliding ghosts, The horizon peopled with embattled hosts. Friends! friends!--they smile :-Long known themselves to fame They come to lend a sacred cause their name : Old kings and nobles marshal in the sky From out the past—the flower of chivalry ;— Before them all, A fair-haired woman, and a godlike youth, Twine many a garland fair, And drop upon the cloudy floor, Thick as the manna-showers of yore, The dew of welcome from each angel-wing.— We muster, in the gloom of eve, And yonder abbey-tower the owlets leave. As that night-bird among the trees, So mutely move we through the gloom, Forward they come with their war-horses bounding, Their arms all a clashing, their dull tramp resounding, The hollow road echoes to laughter and jest, And the screech-owl, affrighted, flits back to her nest,- Such progress what peasants would dare to oppose? Heroic mother of an exiled king! And pays his fruitless homage to thy glory, It was not for our blood to prosper thee, More stainless tides such precious freight should bear; Must buoy thee up at last. * Dermoncourt tells us that this was the signal for dispersion among the insurgents. We've turned us to our ploughs again, From the west that sunshine cometh- There subjects tried and proved his own-- His people's hearts, his monument, Let nation league with nation through the world, In heaven's affronted name, That heaven, when baffled man hath long despaired, Will strike the blood-stained flag that crime hath reared, And hoist the Oriflamme! ADVENA. STATE AND PROSPECTS OF THE COUNTRY. We enter upon the present year with a strong persuasion that the proceedings of our new-modelled Parliament, in the session that is about to be, will determine the destinies of England for, at least, half a century. The constitution has been capsized-a race of legislators has been called into existence, whose notions of good government are essentially different from those of all who have gone before them; and as, unhappily, their power seconds their will, we must prepare for scenes of change and unsettlement, such as could scarcely, on former occasions, enter into the calculations of the most timid alarmist. On former occasions, the great permanent interests in the country exercised a considerable influence in determining the character of the national council; and care was accordingly taken, that nothing should be done by which those interests might be endangered. The landed aristocracy not only had their own house of assembly, but also numbered many stedfast friends amongst the representatives of the people, by whose presence the violence of democracy was mitigated, and all abrupt collision between the two orders of the state prevented. Nor did this blending of the nobles with the commons in the third estate, operate prejudicially to public liberty. Never was there a more complete protection for person and property than during the last century, throughout the whole of which that practice prevailed. In truth, in the present state of enlightenment, it could have had but one effect, namely, that of protecting the privileged orders from the encroachments of those below them. It enabled the government to meet the popular movements, (which, in the present state of the political world, must be calculated upon by the statesman with as much certainty as the occurrence of monsoons in the tropics,) not directly, but indirectly, and thus to modify, or avert, or mitigate, what might not be successfully resisted. But now, instead of this salutary action of the upper orders upon the lower, by which ignorance was instructed, prejudice was disarmed, and the spirit of jacobinical revolution neutralized, we must prepare for the action of the lower classes upon the upper, from which effects very different may be expected. That the reform bill has made the Commons House of Parliament predominant in the legislature, was never doubtful; but it is not now denied. The sapient individual to whom the framing of the bill was entrusted, acknowledges that such was his object. Thenceforth the government of England was a democracy. We are not disposed to give that democracy any hard name. By its fruits, by-and-by, men shall know it. But it is important to banish the delusion of three estates, balancing and controuling each other, in the discharge of their distinct and independent functions. The King and the House of Lords as yet exist, in name; they still exercise their powers and privileges, in form; but, as to possessing any influence which would enable them successfully to resist any aggressive movement upon which the Commons might resolve, and by which their rights might be abridged, we believe such a notion is scarcely entertained by their most sanguine supporters. No. When the Lords consented to pass the reform bill, they assisted in digging their own grave. They may be permitted to linger on in a state of ignominious vassalage to that supreme assembly which they have contributed to aggrandize. But their fate is obvious, as soon as ever they rebel against their masters. The new men of the House of Commons can have but little sympathy with the old men in the House of Lords. When two bodies are brought into conflict, the one of whom possesses power without dignity, and the other of whom possesses dignity without power, it does not require a spirit of prophecy to determine which must be successful. Ancestral rankhereditary privileges-are all very fine things, as long as there exists, on the |