Alas! where now the bands who wont to pour Whom earth applauded through her peopled shores! Thy blaze broke forth at once in full meridian sway, Not when wild Zeal, by murderous Faction led, And pain, and terror, mark advancing death;- groan. "Yes, from those lips while fainting nations drew Behold, e'en now, while every manly lore To rouse the slumbering sparks of faint desire So, when wide-wasting hail, or whelming rain, "And thou, the poet's theme, the patriot's Where, France, thy hopes, thy gilded promise When o'er Montpelier's vines, and Jura's snows, Scourge of the highest, bolt in vengeance hurled For him in Afric's sands, and Poland's snows, "Oh! live there yet whose hardy souls and high Guiltless of chains, to them has Heaven consigned plored, And cursed the deathful point of Ebro's sword. war. Heard by that shore, where Calpe's armed steep | And weeping France her captive king(17) de- The sightly trappings of a marshalled host; -Wo to th' usurper then, who dares defy But theirs the kindling eye, the strenuous arm; "So when stern winter chills the April showers, Sweet as the martial trumpet's silver swell, In that good fight, shall Albion's arm be there? (His glittering brows with hostile spear-heads To hail a kindred soul, and link her fate with bound ;) Spain? Of that chaste king whose hardy mountain Too long her sons, estranged from war and toil, train(13) O'erthrew the knightly race of Charlemagne ; And the wild murmurs of the waving wood; Have loathed the safety of the sea-girt isle; Say, shall my country, roused from deadly sleep, And dim its beams in Roncesvalles' vale?(19) How their brave fathers fought, how thick the in- Or shall foul sloth and timid doubt conspire To mar our zeal, and waste our manly fire?" Still as I gazed, his lowering features spread, High rose his form, and darkness veiled his head; Fast from his eyes the ruddy lightning broke, To heaven he reared his arm, and thus he spoke : 'Wo, trebly wo to their slow zeal who bore Delusive comfort to Iberia's shore! Who in mid conquest, vaunting, yet dismayed, high, Chilled the pure stream of England's energy, And lost in courtly forms and blind delay And the weak victor flung his wreath away;)— "Yes, through the march of many a weary day, bier Drew from his conquering host their latest tear; powers; While one brave heart defies a servile chain, "No! by His viewless arm whose righteous care Defends the orphan's tear, the poor man's prayer; Who, Lord of nature, o'er this changeful ball Decrees the rise of empires, and the fall; And robed in darkness, and surrounding fears, NOTES. Note 1, page 8, col. 1. In Dresden's grove the dewy cool I sought. The opening lines of this poem were really composed in the situation (the Park of Dresden), and under the influence of the feelings, which they attempt to describe. The disastrous issue of King Frederic's campaign took away from the author all inclination to continue them, and they remained neglected till the hopes of Europe were again revived by the illustrious efforts of the Spanish people. Note 2, page 8, col. 2. Pratzen's hill. The hill of Pratzen was the point most obstitaken its name from the neighbouring town of nately contested in the great battle which has Austerlitz; and here the most dreadful slaughter author had, a few weeks before he wrote the took place, both of French and Russians. The above, visited every part of this celebrated field. Note 3, page 8, col. 2. And, red with slaughter, Freedom's humble crest. It is necessary perhaps to mention, that, by freedom, in this and in other passages of the present poem, political liberty is understood in opposition to the usurpation of any single European state. In the particular instance of Spain, however, it is a hope which the author has not yet seen reason to abandon, that a struggle so nobly maintained by popular energy, must terminate in the establishment not only of national independ ence, but of civil and religious liberty. Note 4, page 9, col. 1. Gallia's vaunting train. The confidence and shameful luxury of the French nobles, during the seven years' war, are very sarcastically noticed by Templeman. Note 5, page 9, col. 2. Where youthful Lewis led. Wondrous in all his ways, unseen, unknown,(24) | Prince Lewis Ferdinand of Prussia, who fell Who treads the wine-press of the world alone; gloriously with almost the whole of his regiment. Note 6, page 9, col. 2. By her whose charms, &c. The Queen of Prussia; beautiful, unfortunate, and unsubdued by the severest reverses. Note 7, page 9, col. 2. The covering cherub, &c. "Thou art the anointed cherub that coverest."Addressed to Tyre, by Ezekiel, xxviii. 14. Note 8, page 11, col. 1. Inez' grave. cording to the Spanish romances, and the graver authority of Mariana, the whole force of Charlemagne and the twelve peers of France at Roncesvalles. Bertrand del Carpio, the son of Alonzo's sister, Ximena, was his general; and according to Don Quixote (no incompetent authority on such a subject) put the celebrated Ordandó to the same death as Hercules inflicted on Antæus. His reason was, that the nephew of Charlemagne was enchanted, and like Achilles only vulnerable in the heel, to guard which he wore always iron shoes. See Mariana, l. vii. c. xi.; Don Quixote, Inez de Castro, the beloved mistress of the Infant book i. c. l.; and the notes on Mr. Southey's Don Pedro, son of Alphonso IV. King of Portugal, Chronicle of the Cid; a work replete with powerand stabbed by the orders, and, according to Ca-ful description, and knowledge of ancient history moens, in the presence of that monarch. A foun- and manners, and which adds a new wreath to tain near Coimbra, the scene of their loves and one, who "nullum fere scribendi genus intactum misfortunes, is still pointed out by tradition, and reliquit, nullum quod tetigit non ornavit." called Amores.-De la Clede, Hist. de Portugalle, 4to. tom. i. page 282-7:-and Camoens' Lusiad, canto 3, stanza cxxxv. Note 9, page 11, col 1. -Who dared the first withstand The Moslem waters of their bleeding land. The Asturians, who under Pelagius first opposed the career of Mahometan success. Note 10, page 11, col. 1. Thy spear-encircled crown, Asturia. "La couronne de fer de Dom Pélage,-cette couronne si simple mais si glorieuse, dont chaque fleuron este formé du fer d'une lance arrachée aux Chevaliers Maures que se heros avoit fait tomber sous ses coups."- Roman de Dom Ursino le Navarin, Tressan, tom. ix. 52. Note 11, page 11, col. 1. Rude ancient lays of Spain's heroic time. See the two elegant specimens given by Bishop Percy in his Reliques; and the more accurate translations of Mr. Rodd in his Civil Wars of Grenada. Note 12, page 11, col. 1. Him in Xeres' carnage fearless found. The Gothic monarchy in Spain was overthrown by the Mussulmans at the battle of Xeres, the Christian army being defeated with dreadful slaughter, and the death of their King, the unhappy and licentious Roderigo. Pelagius assembled the small band of those fugitives who despised submission, amid the mountains of the Asturias, under the name of King of Oviedo. Note 13, page, 11, col. 1. Of that chaste king, &c. Note 14, page 11, col. 1. Chiefest him who reared his banner tall, &c. Rodrigo Diaz, of Bivar, surnamed the Cid by the Moors.-See Mr. Southey's Chronicle Note 15, page 11, col. 1. Red Buraba's field, and Lugo Buraba and Lugo were renowned scenes of Spanish victories over the Moors, in the reigns of Bermudo, or, as his name is Latinized, Veremundus, and Alonso the Chaste. Of Lugo the British have since obtained a melancholy knowledge. Note 16, page 11, col. 1. Tlascala. An extensive district of Mexico; its inhabitants were the first Indians who submitted to the Spaniards under Cortez. Note 17, page 11, col. 2. Francis I. taken prisoner at the battle of Pavia. Note 18, page 11, col. 2. Yon Baotic skies. Andalusia forms a part of the ancient Hispania Boetica. Note 18, page 11, col. 2. Roncesvalles' vale. See the former note on Alonso the Chaste. Note 20, page 12, col. 1. The poised balance trembling still with fate. Alonso, surnamed the Chaste, with ample rea-spirited verses on the commencement of the French son, if we believe his historians; who defeated, ac-revolution. The ancient siege of Saguntum has been now Note 24, page 12, col. 1. Who treads the wine-press of the world alone. "I have trodden the wine-press alone, and of rivalled by Zaragoza. The author is happy to the people there was none with me, for I will tread refer his readers to the interesting narrative of his them in mine anger, and trample them in my friend Mr. Vaughan. fury."-Isaiah lxiii. 3. Hymns WRITTEN FOR THE WEEKLY CHURCH SERVICE OF THE YEAR. Several of these hymns were originally published in the Christian Observer, in the years 1811 and 1812, and were then accompanied by the following prefatory notice, which it is thought due to the author, should be here preserved. "The following Hymns are part of an intended series, appropriate to the Sundays, and principal holidays of the year; connected in some degree with their particular Collects and Gospels, and designed to be sung between the Nicene Creed and the Sermon. The effect of an arrangement of this kind, though only partially adopted, is very striking in the Romish liturgy; and its place should seem to be imperfectly supplied by a few verses of a Psalm, entirely unconnected with the peculiar devotions of the day, and selected at the discretion of a clerk or organist. On the merits of the present imperfect essays, the author is unaffectedly diffident; and as his labours are intended for the use of his own congregation, he will be thankful for any suggestion which may advance or correct them. In one respect, at least, he hopes the following poems will not be found reprehensible;-no fulsome or indecorous language has been knowingly adopted: no erotic addresses to him whom no unclean lip can approach, no allegory ill understood, and worse applied. It is not enough, in his opinion, to object to such expressions that they are fanatical; they are positively profane. When our Saviour was on earth and in great humility conversant with mankind; when he sat at the tables, and washed the feet, and healed the diseases of his creatures; yet did not his disciples give him any more familiar name than Master or Lord. And now at the right hand of his Father's majesty, shall we address him with ditties of embraces and passion, or language which it would be disgraceful in an earthly sovereign to endure? Such expressions, it is said, are taken from Scripture; but even if the original application, which is often doubtful, were clearly and unequivocally ascertained, yet, though the collective Christian church may very properly be personified as the spouse of Christ, an application of such language to individual believers is as dangerous as it is absurd and unauthorized. Nor is it going too far to assert, that the brutalities of a common swearer can hardly bring religion into more sure contempt, or more scandalously profane the Name which is above every name in heaven and earth, than certain epithets applied to Christ in our popular collections of religious poetry." Bishop Heber subsequently arranged these hymns, with some others by various writers, in a regular series adapted to the services of the Church of England throughout the year, and it was his intention to publish them soon after his arrival in India; but the arduous duties of his station left little time, during the short life there allotted to him, for any employment not immediately connected with his diocese. This arrangement of them has been published in England since his death, and republished in this country. ADVENT SUNDAY. HOSANNA to the living Lord! Hosanna, Lord! thine angels cry; Oh, Saviour! with protecting care, But chiefest, in our cleansed breast, And make our secret soul to be So, in the last and dreadful day, 1 |