And his head was pillow'd haughtily On standard and on shield. And shadowing that proud trophy pile He sat upon a shiver'd lance, And a burning flood of gem-like hues There fell, there centred, to suffuse A flood of hues; but one rich dye Meet was that robe for him whose name Was a trumpet note in war, His pathway still the march of fame, His eye the battle star. But faintly, tenderly was thrown, From the colour'd light, one ray, Where a low and pale memorial stone Few were the fond words chisell'd there, But the very heart of love and prayer They spoke of one whose life had been Whose young pure memory, lying deep Whose gentle voice, too early call'd Had won for God the earth's enthrall'd, These were his victories—yet enroll'd The pastor of the mountain-fold To heaven and to the peasant's hearth, And finding lowly love on earth, * Love had he seen in huts where poor men lie. WORDSWORTH. Bright and more bright before me gleam'd Till one sweet moonlight memory seem'd Oh! how my silent spirit turn'd THE COTTAGE GIRL. A CHILD beside a hamlet's fount at play, What but the spirit of the joyous child, That freshly forth o'er stream and verdure smiled, Casting upon the common things of earth A brightness, born and gone with infant mirth! THE BATTLE-FIELD. I LOOK'D on the field where the battle was spread, When thousands stood forth in their glancing array; And the beam from the steel of the valiant was shed Through the dun-rolling clouds that o'ershadow'd the fray. I saw the dark forest of lances appear, As the ears of the harvest unnumber'd they stood, Afar, the harsh notes of the war-drum were roll'd, I look'd on the field of contention again, When the sabre was sheath'd and the tempest had past; The wild weed and thistle grew rank on the plain, And the fern softly sigh'd in the low wailing blast. Unmoved lay the lake in its hour of repose, And bright shone the stars through the sky's deepen'd blue; And sweetly the song of the night-bird arose, Where the fox-glove lay gemm'd with its pearldrops of dew. But where swept the ranks of that dark frowning host, As the ocean in might as the storm-cloud in speed! Where now were the thunders of victory's boast— The slayer's dread wrath, and the strength of the steed? Not a time-wasted cross, not a mouldering stone, To mark the lone scene of their shame or their pride; One grass-cover'd mound told the traveller alone, Where thousands lay down in their anguish, and died! Oh, glory! behold thy famed guerdon's extent: For this, toil thy slaves through their earth-wasting lot; A name like the mist, when the night-beams are spent A grave with its tenants unwept and forgot!' A PENITENT'S RETURN. "Can guilt or misery ever enter here? Though calm and gentle as the brooding dove, Guards, powerful as the sword of cherubim, The hallow'd porch. She hath a heavenly smile, And wins him o'er to virtue." WILSON. My father's house once more, In its own moonlight beauty! Yet around, |