To save thy secret soul from nightly fears, On a rock whose haughty brow Frowns o'er old Conway's foaming flood, Robed in the sable garb of woe, With haggard eyes the poet stood (Loose his beard, and hoary hair Streamed like a meteor to the troubled air), "Hark, how each giant oak, and desert cave, To highborn Hoel's harp, or soft Llewellyn's lay. That hushed the stormy main; Brave Urien sleeps upon his craggy bed; Mountains, ye mourn in vain Modred, whose magic song Made huge Plinlimmon bow his cloud-topped head! On dreary Arvon's shore they lie, Smeared with gore, and ghastly pale: Far, far aloof the affrighted ravens sail ; Dear as the ruddy drops that warm my heart, I see them sit! they linger yet, With me in dreadful harmony they join, And weave with bloody hands the tissue of thy lire! " "Weave the warp, and weave the woof, The winding-sheet of Edward's race; Mark the year, and mark the night, When Severn shall reëcho with affright The shrieks of death through Berkeley's roofs that ring, Shrieks of an agonizing king!1 She-wolf of France, with unrelenting fangs, wait! What terrors round him Amazement in his van, with flight combined; . Mighty victor, mighty lord, Low on his funeral couch he lies! No pitying heart, no eye afford 1 Edward the Second, cruelly butchered in Berkeley castle. 2 Isabel of France, queen of Edward the Second. 3 Triumphs of Edward the Third in France. 4 Death of that king, abandoned by his children, and even robbed in his .ast moments by his courtiers. 332 I THE BARD. Is the sable warrior fled? Thy son' is gone. He rests among the dead. Fair laughs the morn, and soft the zephyr blows, Youth on the prow, and Pleasure at the helm ; 2 That, hushed in grim repose, expects his evening prey. "Fill high the sparkling bowl, The rich repast prepare; Reft of a crown, he yet may share the feast : Close by the regal chair Fell thirst and famine scowl A baleful smile upon their baffled guest.3 Heard ye the din of battle bray, Lance to lance, and horse to horse ? Long years of havoc urge their destined course, And through the kindred squadrons mow their way. 4 Ye towers of Julius, London's lasting shame, With many a foul and midnight murder fed, 5 1 Edward, the Black Prince, dead some time before his father. 2 Magnificence of Richard the Second's reign. 3 Richard the Second, as we are told by all the older writers, was starved to death. 4 Ruinous civil wars of York and Lancaster. 5 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 attributed to Julius Cæsar. 1 Revere his consort's faith, his father's 2 fame, Twined with her blushing foe 4 we spread: Wallows beneath the thorny shade. Now, brothers, bending o'er the accursed loom, Stamp we our vengeance deep, and ratify his doom! Edward, lo! to sudden fate (Weave we the woof. The thread is spun.) Half of thy heart we consecrate ! 6 (The web is wove. The work is done.)" 66 Stay, O, stay! nor thus forlorn Leave me unblessed, unpitied, here to mourn! But, O, what solemn scenes on Snowdon's height All hail, ye genuine kings! Britannia's issue, hail! 8 1 Margaret of Anjou, a woman of heroic spirit, who struggled hard to save her husband and her crown. 2 Henry the Fifth. 3 Henry the Sixth, very near being canonized. The line of Lancaster had no right of inheritance to the crown. 4 The white and red roses, devices of York and Lancaster. 5 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. 6 Eleanor of Castile died a few years after the conquest of Wales. "It was the common belief of the Welsh nation that king Arthur was still alive in Fairy-land, and would return again to reign over Britain. 8 Both Medin and Taliessin had prophesied that the Welsh should regain the sovereignty of this island; which scemed to be accomplished in the House of Tudor. "Girt with many a baron bold, Sublime their stony fronts they rear; And gorgeous dames, and statesmen old, In bearded majesty appear. In the midst a form divine! 1 Her eye proclaims her of the Briton line; What strings symphonious tremble in the air! "The verse adorn again, Fierce war, and faithful love, And truth severe, by fairy fiction dressed. Pale grief, and pleasing pain, With honor, tyrant of the throbbing breast. 4 Gales from blooming Eden bear; And distant warblings 5 lessen on my ear, That lost in long futurity expire. Fond, impious man, think'st thou yon sanguine cloud, Raised by thy breath, has quenched the orb of day? To-morrow he repairs the golden flood, And warms the nations with redoubled ray. 1 Queen Elizabeth. 2 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. 3 Shakspeare. 4 Milton. 5 The succession of poets after Milton's time. |