Lance to lance, and horse to horse? Long years of havoc urge their destin'd course, Now, brothers, bending o'er th' accursed loom, * Henry the Sixth, George Duke of Clarence, Edward the Fifth, Richard Duke of York, &c. believed to be murdered secretly in the Tower of London. The oldest part of that structure is vulgarly attributed to Julius Cæsar. Margaret of Anjou, a woman of heroic spirit, who struggled hard to save her husband and her crown. Henry the Fifth. § Henry the Sixth, very near being canonized. The line of Lancaster had no right of inheritance to the crown. The white and red roses, devices of York and Lancaster. The silver-boar was the badge of Richard the Third; whence he was usually known in his own time by the name of The Boar. Stay, oh stay! nor thus forlorn Leave me unbless'd, unpitied, here to mourn: But oh! what solemn scenes on Snowdon's height Ye unborn ages, crowd not on my soul ! No more our long-lost Arthur † we bewail. [hail! All-hail, ye genuine kings; Britannia's issue, "Girt with many a baron bold Sublime their starry fronts they rear; And gorgeous dames, and statesmen old, In bearded majesty, appear. *Eleanor of Castile died a few years after the 'conquest of Wales. The heroic proof she gave of her affection for her lord is well known. The monuments of his regret, and sorrow for the loss of her, are still to be seen at Northampton, Geddington, Waltham, and other places. It was the common belief of the Welsh nation, that King Arthur was still alive in Fairy-land, and should return again to reign over Britain. Both Merlin and Taliessin had prophesied, that the Welsh should regain their sovereignty over this island; which seemed to be accomplished in the house of Tudor. In the midst a form divine! Her eye proclaims her of the Briton-line; What strings symphonious tremble in the air, Bright Rapture calls, and soaring, as she sings, Waves in the eye of Heaven her many-colour'd wings. "The verse adorn again Fierce War, and faithful Love, And Truth severe, by fairy Fiction drest. In buskin'd measures + move Pale Grief, and pleasing Pain, With Horrour, tyrant of the throbbing breast. Gales from blooming Eden bear; And distant warblings § lessen on my ear, [cloud Fond impious man, think'st thou, yon sanguine Rais'd by thy breath, has quench'd the orb of day? To-morrow he repairs the golden flood, And warms the nations with redoubled ray. * Taliessin, chief of the bards, flourished in the sixth century. His works are still preserved, and his memory held in high veneration among his countrymen. + Milton. + Shakspeare. $ The succession of poets after Milton's time. Enough for me: with joy I see He spoke, and headlong from the mountain's height THE FATAL SISTERS. * AN ODE. [From the Norse-Tongue.], IN THE ORCADES OF THORMODUS TORFÆUS; HAFNIE, 1697, FOLIO; AND ALSO IN BARTHOLINUS. Vitt er oprit fyrir valfalli, &c. Now the storm begins to lour, (Haste, the loom of Hell prepare,) Iron-sleet of arrowy shower Hurtles in the darken'd air. * The Valkyriur were female divinities, servants of Odin (or Woden) in the Gothic mythology. Their name signifies choosers of the slain. They were mounted on swift horses, with drawn swords in their hands; and in the throng of battle selected such as were destined to slaughter, and conducted them to Valkalla, the hall of Odin, or paradise of the brave; where they attended the banquet, and served the departed heroes with horns of mead and ale. Glittering lances are the loom, Where the dusky warp we strain, See the griesly texture grow, Shafts for shuttles, dipt in gore, Shoot the trembling cords along; Mista, black terrific maid, Ere the ruddy Sun be set, Pikes must shiver, javelins sing, (Weave the crimson web of war,) Where our friends the conflict share, As the paths of Fate we tread, Wading through th' ensanguin'd field; Gondula, and Geira, spread O'er the youthful king your shield. |