THE BATTLE OF HOHENLINDEN. III. THE BATTLE OF HOHENLINDEN. 5 lr was near Hohenlinden, a village of Bavaria, on the 3rd of December, 1800, that one of the greatest battles took place, between the French and Bavarian army on the one side, and the Austrians on the other. The former, under the generalship of Moreau, gained a complete victory over the latter, under Archduke John. Besides killed and wounded, the Austrians lost 10,000 prisoners and 100 pieces of cannon. See Mc Culloch's Geographical Dictionary. ON Linden, when the sun was low,' All bloodless lay the untrodden snow; But Linden show'd another sight, By torch and trumpet-sound array'd, Then shook the hills, with thunder riven; But redder still these fires shall glow, "Tis morn; but scarce yon level sun Shout 'mid their sulphurous canopy. "It was in the pass of Thermopyla, as every body knows, that, anno 480 B.C., the Spartan king Leonidas, with about 4,000 Greeks, resisted for awhile the whole force of the Persian army, invading Greece under Xerxes. After the Persians had succeeded in opening a passage by another route across the mountains, Leonidas, having dis- * missed almost all the other Greeks, devoted himself with 300 Spartans, in obedience to the laws which forbade Spartans under whatever disadvantage to fly from an enemy, and, agreeably to the answer of the oracle, a sacrifice to insure the independence of his country. (Herodotus, lib. vii., cap. 210-228.) This event has given Thermopylæ all its interest, and will make it be held in "everlasting remembrance." After the final defeat of the Persians, a magnificent monument, the ruins of which still remain, was erected in honour of Leonidas and his heroic companions. It had an inscription, said by Cicero, by whom it has been translated, to have been written by Simonides (Tuscul. i., cap. 42), and which has been rendered into English as follows: "To Lacedæmon's sons, O stranger, tell That here, obedient to their laws, we fell!" Mc Culloch's Geographical Dictionary. 'Twas an hour of fearful issues, When the bold three hundred stood, When, lifting high each sword of flame, KING CANUTE. And O! that oath was nobly kept: Till, torrent-like, the stream of blood O, yes, that oath was nobly kept, G. W. DOANE 7 V. KING CANUTE. "CANUTE, the greatest and most powerful monarch of his time, sovereign of Denmark and Norway, as well as of England, could not fail of meeting with adulation from his courtiers; a tribute which is liberally paid, even to the meanest and weakest princes. Some of his flatterers, breaking out one day in admiration of his grandeur, exclaimed, that everything was possible for him; upon which the monarch, it is said, ordered his chair to be set on the sea-shore, while the tide was rising; and as the waters approached he commanded them to retire, and to obey the voice of him who was lord of the ocean. He feigned to sit some time in expectation of their submission; but when the sea still advanced towards him, and began to wash him with its billows, he turned to his courtiers, and remarked to them, that every creature in the universe was feeble and impotent, and that power resided with one Being alone, in whose hands were all the elements of nature, who could say to the ocean, Thus far shalt thou go, and no farther; and who could level with his nod the most towering piles of human pride and ambition."-Hume's History of England. UPON his royal throne he sat, In a monarch's thoughtful mood; With foolish flatteries, false and vain, They told him e'en the mighty deep He smiled contemptuously, and cried, Down to the ocean's sounding shore King Canute's power proclaim;2 3 His throne was placed by ocean's side, The briny deep its waves tossed high, But none, the kindling eye could brook For in that wrathful glance they see VI. THE CURFEW-SONG OF ENGLAND. "As William had gained his crown by force, he was obliged to keep it by severe laws. Aware that these severe laws would cause discontent among his subjects, he began to fear that they would meet together at night in secret, and concert measures against him. To prevent this, he made a law, that all persons should put out their fires and candles at eight o'clock every evening; and, that no one might excuse himself for having a light after the hour prescribed, a bellman was sent through the streets, ringing his bell, and calling out couvre feu! couvre feu! that is, cover, or extinguish the fire. This order was announced in the Norman-French, because William desired that his new subjects should speak that language, so all public laws and notices were expressed in it. The term couvre feu was, by degrees, pronounced curfew: and you will find this word in your dictionary explained as the evening, or eight o'clock bell.”—True Stories from History of England. Derivations. · |