"Syrian virgins, wail and weep,
English Richard ploughs the deep!
Tremble, watchmen, as ye spy,

From distant towers, with anxious eye,
The radiant range of shield and lance
Down Damascus' hills advance;
From Zion's turrets, as afar

Ye ken' the march of Europe's war !2
Saladin, thou paynim3 king,

From Albion's isle revenge we bring :
On Acco's spiry citadel,

Though to the gale thy banners swell,
Pictured with the silver moon,5
England shall end thy glory soon!
In vain to break our firm array,
Thy brazen drums hoarse discord bray;
Those sounds our rising fury fan;
English Richard in the van,

On to victory we go,

A vaunting infidel the foe.”

Blondel led the tuneful band,

And swept the wire with glowing hand.
Cyprus, from her rocky mound,

And Crete, with piny verdure crowned,
Far along the smiling main

Echoed the prophetic strain.

(1) Ken-from the Anglo-Saxon cenn-an, to know by the senses, especially sight, to descry; to know generally. The word also means, to be able; thus implying the affirmation that “knowledge is power."

(2) War-put here for "forces," as in Milton's "Paradise Lost," xii. 213:"On their embattled ranks the waves return,

(3) Paynim-from the Latin paganus, through the French payen. The word originally meant merely a countryman, then one who, as living remote from the civilizing influence of towns, clung to old superstitions and errors, hence an unbeliever. It was also applied as a term of contempt by the Crusaders to the Mahometans.

(4) Acco-The ancient Ptolemais and the modern Acre.

(5) Silver moon-The Turkish crescent.

(6) Brazen drums-To increase the din, Saladin had brass kettle-drums beaten during one of the battles.

(7) Smiling-i. e. sparkling in the sun. Eschylus, in the "Prometheus Vinctus," beautifully refers to "the ocean-waves' unnumbered smiles."

Soon we kissed the sacred earth
That gave the suffering Saviour birth:
Then with ardour fresh endued
Thus the solemn song renewed:-
·
"Lo, the toilsome voyage past,
Heaven's favoured hills appear at last!
Object of our holy' vow,

We tread the Syrian valleys now.
From Carmel's almond-shielded steep
We feel the cheering fragrance creep :
O'er Engaddi's shrubs of balm
Waves the date-empurpled3 palm.
See Lebanon's aspiring head

Wide his immortal umbrage spread!
"Hail, Calvary, thou mountain hoar,
Where sin's dread load the Saviour bore!
Ye trampled tombs, ye fanes forlorn,
Ye stones, by tears of pilgrims worn;
Your ravished honours to restore,
Fearless we climb the hostile shore.
And thou, the sepulchre of God!"
By mocking pagans rudely trod,
Bereft of every awful rite,

And quenched thy lamps that beamed so bright;
For thee, from Britain's distant coast,

Lo, Richard leads his faithful host!

Aloft in his heroic hand,

Blazing like the beacon's brand,

(1) Holy-a very much abused word when employed with reference to the Crusades generally.

(2) Engaddi-an ancient city which stood on the western coast of the Dead Sea. We learn from Josephus that it was once famous for palm-trees and balsams, or balm-shrubs, but "at present," says Dr. Robinson, who visited the spot in 1838, "not a palm-tree exists there."

(3) Date-empurpled-adorned with dates. A very artificial epithet. (See note 2, p. 71.)

(4) Immortal umbrage-in allusion to the remarkable longevity of the cedars of Lebanon. The natives-and some travellers-believe the most ancient of these trees to be the survivors of those cut down by Solomon for the building of the Temple.

(5) Mountain-It is difficult to understand how Calvary got the name of "mountain." The word means a "skull," and seems to have been given to a small hillock of that shape. Nothing that deserves the name of mountain can be found, and there is no scriptural authority for the term.

(6) Sepulchre of God-the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, originally built by Constantine. That referred to in the text was built by the first Crusaders.

O'er the far-affrighted fields,
Resistless Kaliburn' he wields.
Proud Saracen, pollute no more
The shrines by martyrs built of yore!
From each wild mountain's trackless crown
In view thy gloomy castles frown:
Thy battering-engines, huge and high,
In vain our steel-clad steeds defy;
And, rolling in terrific state,

2

On giant-wheels3 harsh thunders grate.

"Salem, in ancient majesty
Arise, and lift thee to the sky!
Soon on thy battlements divine

Shall wave the badge of Constantine.”
Ye barons, to the sun unfold

Our cross with crimson wove and gold."

T. Warton.

TO A MOUNTAIN DAISY;

ON TURNING ONE DOWN WITH THE PLOUGH."

WEE,7 modest, crimson-tipped flower,

Thou's met me in an evil hour;

For I maun crush amang the stoure

Thy slender stem;

To spare thee now is past my power,

Thou bonnie9 gem.

(1) Kaliburn-The sword of King Arthur, which, according to the monkish historians, came into the possession of Richard. See an account of the wonderful performances of Kaliburn in Geoffrey of Monmouth's "British History," book ix. (2) Battering-engines-battering-rams.

(3) Giant-wheels-The word "giant" is used in some compounds in the sense of "very large." (See "giant-bound," p. 22.) "Horse" seems to bear the same interpretation, in horse-chestnut, horse-leech, horse-laugh, &c.

(4) Salem-the ancient name of Jerusalem. It signifies "peace."

(5) Badge of Constantine-This refers to the "labarum," as the magnificent banner was called, which Constantine, after his conversion, adopted as the imperial standard. It bore a cross woven in gold upon purple cloth; not crimson, as implied in the text.

(6) "The verses to the Mouse' and 'Mountain Daisy' were composed," says the poet's brother, "on the occasions mentioned, and while the author was holding the plough."

(7) Wee-little.

The flaunting flowers our gardens yield,
High sheltering woods and wa's maun shield;
But thou, beneath the random bield"

O' clod or stane,

Adorns the histie stibble-field,8

Unseen, alane.

There, in thy scanty mantle clad,
Thy snawie bosom sunward spread,
Thou lifts thy unassuming head

In humble guise :

But now the share uptears thy bed,

And low thou lies!

Such fate to suffering worth is given,
Who long with wants and woes has striven,

By human pride or cunning driven

To misery's brink,

He, ruined, sink!

Till, wrenched of every stay but Heaven,

(1) Neebor-neighbour.

(2) Lark-"I have seldom," says Mackenzie, "met with an image more truly pastoral, than that of the lark in the second stanza."

(3) Weet-rain, wetness.

(4) Glinted-peeped.

(5) Wa's-walls. It is a characteristic of the lowland Scotch to elide the 7 in many words, thus, wa' for wall, a' for all, &c.

(6) Random bield-casual shelter.

(7) Thou adorns-In the northern dialect of the English language, to which the lowland Scotch is akin, all the persons, both singular and plural, of the present tense, are alike, and all end in s; thus I adorns, thou adorns, he adorns, we adorns, &c. So in the second line, "thou's met," for, thou hast met. (8) Histie stibble-field-dry stubble-field.

ON TURNING HER UP IN HER NEST WITH THE PLOUGH.3

WEE, sleekit, cowerin', timorous beastie,"

Oh, what a panic's in thy breastie !
Thou needna start awa sae hasty,

Wi' bickering brattle!"

I wad be laith7 to rin an' chase thee,
Wi' murdering pattle!

I'm truly sorry man's dominion

Has broken nature's social union,

An' justifies that ill opinion,

8

Which maks thee startle

At me, thy poor earth-born companion,
An' fellow mortal!

I doubt na, whyles, but thou may thieve;
What then? poor beastie, thou maun live!
A daimen-icker 10 in a thrave11

'S a sma' request:

I'll get a blessin' wi' the lave,12

And never miss't!

(1) Ruin's ploughshare—a bold figure and strikingly in keeping with the subject. It is borrowed from Young's "Night Thoughts" (see p. 408).

(2) Elate-triumphantly.

(3) "The charm," says Lord Jeffrey, "of these fine lines will be found to consist in the simple tenderness of the delineation ;" and also, it may be added, in the hearty human sympathies which are interwoven with it. The words "fellow mortal," touch this chord with powerful effect.

(4) Sleekit-sleek, sly.

(5) Beastie-little beast. The termination ie marks the diminutive.

(6) Bickering brattle-hasty run.

(8) Pattle-a small spade to clean the plough.

(7) Laith-loth; as baith, both. (9) Whyles-sometimes.

(10) Daimen-icker-an ear of corn met with occasionally. (11) Thrave-shock of corn.

(12) Lave-leaving, the rest.