184

CAMPBELL'S GERTRUDE OF WYOMING.

"A lov'd bequest! and I may half impart,
To them that feel the strong paternal tie,
How like a new existence to his heart
Uprose that living flow'r beneath his eye!
Dear as she was, from cherub infancy,

From hours when she would round his garden play,
To time when, as the rip'ning years went by,
Her lovely mind could culture well repay,

And more engaging grew from pleasing day to day.

"I may not paint those thousand infant charms;
(Unconscious fascination, undesign'd!)
The orison repeated in his arms,

For God to bless her sire and all mankind!
The book, the bosom on his knee reclin'd,
Or how sweet fairy-lore he heard her con,
(The playmate ere the teacher of her mind);
All uncompanion'd else her years had gone

Till now in Gertrude's eyes their ninth blue summer shone.

"And summer was the tide, and sweet the hour,

When sire and daughter saw, with fleet descent,

An Indian from his bark approach their bow'r," &c.— p. 12, 13. This is the guide and preserver of young Henry Waldegrave; who is somewhat fantastically described as appearing

"Led by his dusky guide, like Morning brought by Night." The Indian tells his story with great animation — the storming and blowing up of the English fort- and the tardy arrival of his friendly and avenging warriors. They found all the soldiers slaughtered.

"And from the tree we with her child unbound

"A lonely mother of the Christian land

"Her lord the captain of the British band

66

Amidst the slaughter of his soldiers lay;

Scarce knew the widow our deliv'ring hand:

"Upon her child she sobb'd, and swoon'd away;

"Or shriek'd unto the God to whom the Christians pray.

"Our virgins fed her with their kindly bowls.

“Of fever balm, and sweet sagamité:

"But she was journeying to the land of souls,

66

And lifted up her dying head to pray

"That we should bid an antient friend convey

"Her orphan to his home of England's shore;

"And take, she said, this token far away

"To one that will remember us of yore,

"When he beholds the ring that Waldegrave's Julia wore.

p. 16, 17.

CAMPBELL'S GERTRUDE OF WYOMING.

185

Albert recognises the child of his murdered friend, with great emotion; which the Indian witnesses with characteristic and picturesque composure.

"Far differently the mute Oneyda took
His calumet of peace, and cup of joy;
As monumental bronze unchang'd his look:
A soul that pity touch'd, but never shook:
Train'd, from his tree-lock'd cradle to his bier,
The fierce extremes of good and ill to brook
Impassive-fearing but the shame of fear
A stoic of the woods

a man without a tear. — "p. 20.

This warrior, however, is not without high feelings and tender affections.

"He scorn'd his own, who felt another's woe:

66

66

And ere the wolf-skin on his back he flung,

Or laced his mocasins, in act to go,

A song of parting to the boy he sung,

Who slept on Albert's couch, nor heard his friendly tongue.

Sleep, wearied one! and in the dreaming land,
Shouldst thou the spirit of thy mother greet,

"Oh! say, to-morrow, that the white man's hand

66

Hath pluck'd the thorns of sorrow from thy feet; "While I in lonely wilderness shall meet

66

Thy little foot-prints or by traces know

"The fountain, where at noon I thought it sweet

"To feed thee with the quarry of my bow,

"And pour'd the lotus-horn, or slew the mountain roe.

"Adieu! sweet scion of the rising sun!" &c.

-p. 21, 22.

The Second Part opens with a fine description of Albert's sequestered dwelling. It reminds us of that enchanted landscape in which Thomson has embosomed his Castle of Indolence. We can make room only for the first stanza.

"A valley from the river shore withdrawn

Was Albert's home two quiet woods between,
Whose lofty verdure overlook'd his lawn;
And waters to their resting-place serene,
Came, fresh'ning and reflecting all the scene:
(A mirror in the depth of flowery shelves;)
So sweet a spot of earth, you might (I ween)
Have guess'd some congregation of the elves,

To sport by summer moons, had shap'd it for themselves."

p. 27.

186

CAMPBELL'S GERTRUDE OF WYOMING.

The effect of this seclusion on Gertrude is beautifully represented.

"It seem'd as if those scenes sweet influence had
On Gertrude's soul, and kindness like their own
Inspir'd those eyes affectionate and glad,
That seem'd to love whate'er they look'd upon!
Whether with Hebe's mirth her features shone,
Or if a shade more pleasing them o'ercast,
(As if for heav'nly musing meant alone);
Yet so becomingly the expression past,

That each succeeding look was lovelier than the last. -
"Nor, guess I, was that Pensylvanian home,
With all its picturesque and balmy grace,
And fields that were a luxury to roam,

Lost on the soul that look'd from such a face!
Enthusiast of the woods! when years apace
Had bound thy lovely waist with woman's zone,
The sunrise path, at morn, I see thee trace
To hills with high magnolia overgrown;

And joy to breathe the groves, romantic and alone."— p. 29, 30. The morning scenery, too, is touched with a delicate and masterly hand.

"While yet the wild deer trod in spangling dew,

While boatman caroll'd to the fresh-blown air,

And woods a horizontal shadow threw,

And early fox appear'd in momentary view."- p. 32.

The reader is left rather too much in the dark as to Henry's departure for Europe; -nor, indeed, are we apprised of his absence, till we come to the scene of his unexpected return. Gertrude was used to spend the hot part of the day in reading in a lonely and rocky recess in those safe woods; which is described with Mr. Campbell's usual felicity.

"Rocks sublime

To human art a sportive semblance wore;

And yellow lichens colour'd all the clime,

Like moonlight battlements, and towers decayed by time.

"But high, in amphitheatre above,

His arms the everlasting aloes threw :

Breath'd but an air of heaven, and all the grove

As if instinct with living spirit grew,

Rolling its verdant gulfs of every hue;
And now suspended was the pleasing din,
Now from a murmur faint it swell'd anew,

Like the first note of organ heard within

Cathedral aisles ere yet its symphony begin." - p. 33.

CAMPBELL'S GERTRUDE

HENRY'S RETURN. 187

In this retreat, which is represented as so solitary, that, except her own,

66 scarce an ear had heard

The stock-dove plaining through its gloom profound,

Or winglet of the fairy humming bird,

Like atoms of the rainbow fluttering round"— p. 34.

-a stranger of lofty port and gentle manners surprises her, one morning, and is conducted to her father. They enter into conversation on the subject of his travels.

64

"And much they lov'd his fervid strain

---

While he each fair variety retrac'd
Of climes, and manners, o'er the eastern main.
Now happy Switzer's hills romantic Spain
Gay lilied fields of France- - or, more refin'd,
The soft Ausonia's monumental reign;
Nor less each rural image he design'd,

Than all the city's pomp and home of human kind.

Anon some wilder portraiture he draws!

Of Nature's savage glories he would speak

The loneliness of earth that overawes!

Where, resting by some tomb of old cacique,
The lama-driver on Peruvia's peak

Nor voice nor living motion marks around;

But storks that to the boundless forest shriek;

Or wild-cane arch high flung o'er gulf profound,

That fluctuates when the storms of El Dorado sound."

p. 36, 37. Albert, at last, bethinks him of inquiring after his stray ward young Henry; and entertains his guest with a short summary of his history.

His face the wand'rer hid; but could not hide

A tear, a smile, upon his cheek that dwell!-

And speak, mysterious stranger!' (Gertrude cried)

It is! - it is! I knew I knew him well!

'Tis Waldegrave's self, of Waldegrave come to tell!'
A burst of joy the father's lips declare;

But Gertrude speechless on his bosom fell:

At once his open arms embrac'd the pair;

Was never group more blest, in this wide world of care!"

p. 39.

The first overflowing of their joy and artless love is represented with all the fine colours of truth and poetry; but we cannot now make room for it. The Second Part ends with this stanza:

188

CAMPBELL'S GERTRUDE

FELICITY;

"Then would that home admit them-happier far
Than grandeur's most magnificent saloon -
While, here and there, a solitary star

Flush'd in the dark'ning firmament of June;
And silence brought the soul-felt hour full soon,

Ineffable-which I

may not

pourtray!

For never did the Hymenean moon

A paradise of hearts more sacred sway,

In all that slept beneath her soft voluptuous ray."—p. 43.

The Last Part sets out with a soft but spirited sketch of their short-lived felicity.

'Three little moons, how short! amidst the grove,

And pastoral savannas they consume!

While she, beside her buskin'd youth to rove,
Delights, in fancifully wild costume,

Her lovely brow to shade with Indian plume;
And forth in hunter-seeming vest they fare;
But not to chase the deer in forest gloom!
'Tis but the breath of heav'n the blessed air —
And interchange of hearts, unknown, unseen to share.

"What though the sportive dog oft round them note,
Or fawn, or wild bird bursting on the wing;
Yet who, in love's own presence, would devote
To death those gentle throats that wake the spring?
Or writhing from the brook its victim bring?
No!nor let fear one little warbler rouse;
But, fed by Gertrude's hand, still let them sing,
Acquaintance of her path, amidst the boughs,

That shade ev'n now her love, and witness'd first her vows!"

p. 48, 49.

The transition to the melancholy part of the story is introduced with great tenderness and dignity.

"But mortal pleasure, what art thou in truth?
The torrent's smoothness ere it dash below!
And must I change my song? and must I show,
Sweet Wyoming! the day, when thou wert doom'd,
Guiltless, to mourn thy loveliest bow'rs laid low!
When, where of yesterday a garden bloom'd,

Death overspread his pall, and black'ning ashes gloom'd?—

"Sad was the year, by proud Oppression driv'n,

When Transatlantic Liberty arose;

Not in the sunshine, and the smile of heav'n,

But wrapt in whirlwinds, and begirt with woes :
Amidst the strife of fratricidal foes,