21. This was the morning light vouchsafed, which led And O ye nymphs of Castaly divine! Whom I have dutifully served so long, Benignant to your votary now incline, That I may win your ear with gentle song, Such as, I ween, is ne'er disown'd by you,.. A low prelusive strain, to nature true. 23. But when I reach at themes of loftier thought, 24. So may I boldly round my temples bind That makes my symphony in this lone hour, No perishable song of triumph raise, But sing in worthy strains my Country's praise. 2. For had the Persian triumph'd, then the spring 3. The second day was that when Martel broke 4. Such was the danger when that Man of Blood Burst from the iron Isle, and brought again, Like Satan rising from the sulphurous flood, His impious legions to the battle plain : Such too was our deliverance when the field Of Waterloo beheld his fortunes yield. 5. I, who with faith unshaken from the first, 9. We left our pleasant Land of Lakes, and went Small vestige there of that old siege appears, Yet still those wars of obstinate defence Their lessons offer to the soldier's hand; Large knowledge may the statesman draw from thence: And still from underneath the drifted sand, struction and devastation which we had before our eyes, the little hope that appeared to any of us of escaping our menaced fate, so familiarized us with the idea of death, that a stoical serenity had taken possession of our minds: we had been kept in a state of fear till the sentiment of fear was lost. All our conversation bore the character of this disposition: it was reflective but not complaining; it was serious without being melancholy; and often presented novel and striking ideas. One day, when we were conversing on the inevitable chain of events, and the irrevocable order of things, on a sudden one of our party exclaimed that we owed all our misfortunes to Charles Martel. We thought him raving; but thus he reasoned to prove his hypothesis. Had not Charles Martel,' said he, 'conquered the Saracens, these latter, already masters of Guienne, of Saintonge, of Perigord, and of Poitou, would soon have extended their dominion over all France, and from that time we should have had no more religious quarrels, no more state disputes; we should not now have assemblies of the people, clubs, committees of public safety, sieges, imprisonments, bloody executions.' To this man the Turkish system of government appeared preferable to the revolutionary regime; and, all chances calculated, he preferred the bow-string of the Bashaw, rarely drawn, to the axe of the guillotine, incessantly at work." "It is uncertain what numbers were slain during the siege of Ostend, yet it is said that there was found in a commissary's pocket, who was slain before Ostend the 7th of August, before the yielding thereof, divers remarkable notes and observations, and among the rest what number died without in the archduke's camp, of every degree: more ease, and were better victualled."- Grimestone's Hist. of the Netherlands, p. 1317. "The besieged in Ostend had certain adventuring soldiers whom they called Lopers, of the which, among other captains, were the young captain Grenu, and captain Adam Van Leest. Their arms which they bore were a long and great pike, with a flat head at the neather end thereof, to the end that it should not sink too deep into the mud, a harquebuse hung in a scarf, as we have said of Frebuters, a coutelas at his side, and his dagger about his neck, who would usually leap over a ditch four and twenty foot broad, skirmishing often with his enemy, so as no horseman could overtake them before they had leapt over the ditches againe."— Ibid. 1299. "In remembrance of the long siege of Ostend, and the winning of Sluce, there were certaine counters made in the United Provinces, both of silver and copper, the one having on the one side the picture of Ostend, and on the other the towns of Rhinberg, Grave, Sluice, Ardenbourg, and the forts of Isendyke and Cadsant, with this inscription round about: Plus triennio obsessa, hosti rudera, patriæ quatuor ex me urbes dedi. Anno 1604.' Ostend being more than three years besieged, gave the enemie a heap of stones, and to her native country four townes. "The town of Utrecht did also make a triumphant piece of coyne both of gold and silver, where on the one side stood the siege of Ostend, and on the other the siege of Sluce, and all the forts and havens, and on both sides round about was graven, ⚫ Jehovah prius dederat plus quam perdidimus." " Ibid. 1318. 2 These lines are borrowed from Quarles: .. the passage in which they occur would be very pleasing if he had not disfigured it in a most extraordinary manner. "Saile gentle Pinnace! now the heavens are clear, And quite thee fairly of the injurious Sea." Quarle's Argalus and Parthenia. 14. Four horses, aided by the favouring breeze, Drew our gay vessel, slow and sleek and large; Crack goes the whip, the steersman at his ease Directs the way, and steady went the barge. Ere evening closed to Bruges thus we came,.. Fair city, worthy of her ancient fame. 15. The season of her splendour is gone by, Yet every where its monuments remain ; Temples which rear their stately heads on high, Canals that intersect the fertile plain, 21. My lot hath lain in scenes sublime and rude, In boyhood was I wont, with rapture fraught, 22. In Cintra also have I dwelt erewhile, That earthly Eden, and have seen at eve Wide streets and squares, with many a court and hall One pinnacle sole seen, whereon it stood 16. Time hath not wrong'd her, nor hath Ruin sought 17. But for the scars in that unhappy rage Is hers, in venerable years array'd; 18. When I may read of tilts in days of old, And tourneys graced by chieftains of renown, Fair dames, grave citizens, and warriors bold, If Fancy would pourtray some stately town, Which for such pomp fit theatre should be, Fair Bruges, I shall then remember thee. 19. Nor did thy landscape yield me less delight, 20. No happier landscape may on earth be seen, 1 "Urbs est ad miraculum pulchra, potens, amoena," says Luigi Guicciardini. Its power is gone by, but its beauty is perhaps more impressive now than in the days of its splendour and prosperity. Like the Ark on Ararat, above the flood. 23. And now am I a Cumbrian mountaineer; Their wintry garment of unsullied snow 24. Yet hath the Flemish scene a charm for me A natural beauty springs from perfect art, 25. Two nights have pass'd; the morning opens well, 26. Beside the busy wharf the Trekschuit rides, And passengers and porters throng the way, 27. All disregardant of the Babel sound, A swan kept oaring near with upraised eye,.. The bounty of such casual company; Dezitter is this person's name. During the revolutionary frenzy, when the mob seemed to take most pleasure in destroying whatever was most venerable, he took these splendid tombs to pieces and buried them during the night, for which M. Paquet Syphorien, and many writers after him, mention he was proscribed, and a reward of 2000 francs set upon his the preservation of the monuments of Charles the Bold, and head. Buonaparte, after his marriage into the Austrian his daughter Mary of Burgundy, wife to the Archduke Maxi-family, rewarded him with 1000 francs, and gave 10,000 for milian; but they do not mention the name of the Beadle who ornamenting the chapel in which the tombs were replaced. preserved them at the imminent risque of his own life. Pierre This has been done with little taste. 1 The Beguines. Helyot is mistaken when he says (t. viii. p. 6.) that the Beguinage at Mechlin is the finest in all Flanders; it is not comparable to that at Ghent, which for extent and beauty may be called the Capital of the community. In 1583, "the English garrison of Alost being mutinied for their pay, the Ganthois did not only refuse to give it them, but did threaten to force them out, or else to famish them. In the meantime the Prince of Parma did not let slip this opportunity to make his profit thereby, but did solicit them by 35. The one of frozen Moscovy could speak, The pageantry and pomp of Catherine's reign, 36. And one had dwelt with Malabars and Moors, Where fertile earth and genial heaven dispense Profuse their bounty upon Indian shores; Whate'er delights the eye, or charms the sense, The valleys with perpetual fruitage blest, The mountains with unfading foliage drest. 37. He those barbaric palaces had seen, The work of Eastern potentates of old; And in the Temples of the Rock had been, Awe-struck their dread recesses to behold; A gifted hand was his, which by its skill [will. Could to the eye pourtray such wondrous scenes at 38. A third, who from the Land of Lakes with me For he in far Brazil, through wood and waste, 39. Wild region,.. happy if at night he found The shelter of some rude Tapuya's shed; And sometimes over thirsty deserts drear, And he a comrade to my heart's content: 41. Here to the easy barge we bade adieu; Land-travellers now along the well-paved way, Where road-side trees still lengthening on the view, Before us and behind unvarying lay: Through lands well-labour'd to Alost we came, Where whilome treachery stain'd the English name.? fair words and promises to pay them; and these English companies, not accustomed to endure hunger and want, began to give ear unto him, for that their Colonel Sir John Norris and the States were somewhat slow to provide for their pay, for the which they intended to give order, but it was too late. For after that the English had chased away the rest of the garrison which were of the country, then did Captain Pigot, Vincent, Tailor, and others, agree to deliver up the town unto the Spaniard, giving them for their pay, which they received, thirty thousand pistolets. And so the said town was |