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What? he has vanquished all impediment

and in the wilful mood of his own daughter
shall a new struggle rise for him? Child! Child!
as yet thou hast seen thy father's smiles alone;
the eye of his rage thou hast not seen. Dear child,
I will not frighten thee. To that extreme,
I trust, it ne'er shall come. His will is yet
unknown to me: 'tis possible his aims
may have the same direction as thy wish.
But this can never, never be his will

that thou, the daughter of his haughty fortunes, shouldst e'er demean thee as a love-sick maiden; and like some poor cost-nothing, fling thyself toward the man, who, if that high prize ever be destined to await him, yet, with sacrifices the highest love can bring, must pay for it. 876 Thek. I thank thee for the hint. It turns

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my sad presentiment to certainty.

and it is so!-Not one friend have we here,
not one true heart! we've nothing but ourselves!
O she said rightly-no auspicious signs
beam on this covenant of our affections.

This is no theatre, where hope abides:

the dull thick noise of war alone stirs here:
and love himself, as he were armed in steel,
steps forth, and girds him for the strife of death.-
There's a dark spirit walking in our house,
and swiftly will the Destiny close on us.
It drove me hither from my calm asylum,
it mocks my soul with charming witchery,
it lures me forward in a seraph's shape,
I see it near, I see it nearer floating,
it draws, it pulls me with a god-like power—
and lo! the abyss-and thither am I moving-
I have no power within me not to move!

W

S. T. COLERIDGE from Schiller

WARSAW'S LAST CHAMPION

ARSAW'S last champion from her height surveyed,

wide o'er the fields, a waste of ruin laid,

O, Heaven! he cried, my bleeding country save!is there no hand on high to shield the brave?

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Sem.

Yet, though destruction sweep those lovely plains,
rise, fellow-men! our country yet remains!

by that dread name, we wave the sword on high!
and swear for her to live!-with her to die!
He said, and on the rampart-heights array'd
his trusty warriors, few, but undismay'd;
firm-paced and slow, a horrid front they form,
still as the breeze, but dreadful as the storm;
low murmuring sounds along their banners fly,
revenge, or death, the watch-word and reply;
then peal'd the notes, omnipotent to charm,
and the loud tocsin toll'd their last alarm!-
In vain, alas! in vain, ye gallant few!
from rank to rank your volley'd thunder flew:—
O, bloodiest picture in the book of Time,
Sarmatia fell, unwept, without a crime;
found not a generous friend, a pitying foe,
strength in her arms, nor mercy in her woe!

T. CAMPBELL

SEMPRONIUS-PORTIUS SON OF CATO

OOD morrow, Portius! let us once embrace,

To-morrow should we thus express our friendship,
each might receive a slave into his arms:
this sun, perhaps, this morning sun's the last
that e'er shall rise on Roman liberty.

Por. My father has this morning called together
to this poor hall his little Roman senate,
(the leavings of Pharsalia) to consult

if yet he can oppose the mighty torrent,

free.

that bears down Rome, and all her gods, before it, or must at length give up the world to Cæsar. Sem. Not all the pomp and majesty of Rome

can raise her senate more than Cato's presence:
his virtues render our assembly awful,

they strike with something like religious fear,
and make even Cæsar tremble at the head
of armies flushed with conquest: O my Portius!
could I but call that wondrous man my father,
would but thy sister Marcia be propitious

to thy friend's vows, I might be blessed indeed!
J. ADDISON

879

W

A DROWNED SOLDIER

ALKING next day upon the fatal shore, among the slaughter'd bodies of their men, which the full-stomach'd sea had cast upon the sands, it was my unhappy chance to light upon a face, whose favour when it lived my astonish'd mind inform'd me I had seen. He lay in his armour, as if that had been his coffin; and the weeping sea (like one whose milder temper doth lament the death of him whom in his rage he slew) runs up the shore, embraces him, kisses his cheek; goes back again and forces up the sands to bury him; and every time it parts, sheds tears upon him; till at last, (as if it could no longer endure to see the man whom it had slain, yet loath to leave him) with a kind of unresolv'd unwilling pace,

winding her waves one in another, (like

a man that folds his arms, or wrings his hands,
for grief) ebb'd from the body and descends,
as if it would sink down into the earth,
and hide itself for shame of such a deed.

C. TOURNEUR

880 LEONIDAS' ADDRESS TO THE LEADERS OF THE

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GREEKS

VENERABLE synod, whose decrees

have called us forth to vanquish or to die, thrice hail! Whate'er by valour we obtain your wisdom must preserve. With piercing eyes each Grecian state contemplate, and discern their various tempers. Animate the cold, and watch the faithless: some there are betray themselves and Greece; their perfidy prevent, or call them back to honour. Let us all be linked in sacred union, and the Greeks shall stand the world's whole multitude in arms. If for the spoil, which Paris bore to Troy, a thousand barks the Hellespont o'erspread shall not again confederated Greece

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be roused to battle, and to freedom give,
what once she gave to fame? Behold we haste
to stop the invading tyrant. Till we bleed,
he shall not pour his myriads on your plains.
But, as the gods conceal how long our strength
may stand unconquered, or how soon must fall,
waste not a moment, till consenting Greece
range all her free-born numbers in the field.

AJAX

R. GLOVER

GREAT Jove, immure my heart, or girt it with

some ribs of steel, lest it break through this flesh,
and with a flame, contracted from just fury,
set fire on all the world! how am I fallen,
how shrunk to nothing, my fame ravish'd from me,
that this sly talking prince is made my rival
in great Achilles' armour! is it day?

and can a cloud, darker than night, so muffle
your eyes, they cannot reach the promontory,
beneath which now the Grecian fleet rides safe,
which I so late rescu'd from Trojan flames,
when Hector, frightful like a globe of fire,
by his example taught the enraged youth
to brandish lightning? but I cannot talk,
nor knows he how to fight, unless i' th' dark
with shadows. I confess, his eloquence
and tongue are mighty, but Pelides' sword

and armour were not made things to be talk'd on,
but worn and us'd; and when you shall determine
my juster claim, it will be fame enough

for him, to boast he strove with Ajax Telamon,
and lost the prize, due only to my merit.

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HARMOSAN

J. SHIRLEY

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OW the third and fatal conflict of the Persian throne was done,

and the Moslem's fiery valour had the crowning victory

won.

Harmosan, the last and boldest the invader to defy, captive overborne by numbers, they were bringing forth to die.

Then exclaimed that noble captive-"Lo! I perish in

my thirst,

give me but one drink of water, and let then arrive the worst."

In his hand he took the goblet, but awhile the draught forbore,

seeming doubtfully the purpose of the foemen to explore.

Well might then have paused the bravest-for around him angry foes

with an hedge of naked weapons did that lonely man enclose.

"But what fear'st thou ?" cried the Caliph: "is it, friend, a secret blow?

fear it not our gallant Moslem no such treacherous dealing know:

thou may'st quench thy thirst securely, for thou shalt not die before

thou hast drunk that cup of water-this reprieve is thine no more."

Quick the Satrap dashed the goblet down to earth with ready hand,

and the liquid sank for ever, lost amid the burning sand.

"Thou hast said that mine my life is, till the water of that cup

I have drained-then bid thy servants that spilled water gather up."

For a moment stood the Caliph as by doubtful passions stirred,

then exclaimed, "For ever sacred must remain a monarch's word!

bring another cup, and straightway to the noble Persian give:

drink, I said before, and perish-now I bid thee drink and live."

R. C. TRENCH

883

IMOGEN

I

SEE a man's life is a tedious one:

I have tired myself; and for two nights together have made the ground my bed. I should be sick, but that my resolution helps me.-Milford,

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