Oh! it was not thus when his oaken spear Was true to that knight forlorn ; And hosts of a thousand were scattered like deer When he strode on the wreck of each well-fought field Yet bleeding and bound though the Wallace wight The bugle ne'er sung to a braver knight Than William of Elderslie ! But the day of his glory shall never depart; His head unentomb'd shall with glory be palm'd, From its blood-streaming altar his spirit shall start, Though the raven has fed on his mouldering heart, A nobler was never enbalmed. THE TINKER AND MILLER'S DAUGHTER. THE meanest creature somewhat may contain, Upon a day, a poor and trav'lling tinker, Pass'd in some village near a miller's door, Struck with the uncommon form, the tinker started, Just like a frighten'd horse or murd'rer carted, Up gazing at the gibbet and the rope; Turning his brain about, in a brown study, (For as I've said, his brain was not so muddy,) "'Sbud! (quoth the tinker) I have now some hope. "Fortune, the jade, is not far off, perchance' And then began to rub his hands and dance. Now all so full of love, o'erjoyed he ran, If ever I saw one like you before!" Then, nothing loth, like Eve, the nymph he kiss'd. Now, very sensibly indeed, Miss Grist, For really 'tis with girls a dangerous farce, She did not scream, and cry, "I'll not be woo'd ; But lo, the damsel with her usual squint, Sweet kisses on her lips, and squeeze her hand, Soon won, the nymph agreed to join his bed, Now to the father the brisk lover hied; "Ho! Master Miller," did the tinker say Forth from his cloud of flour the miller came, "Nice weather, Master Miller-charming dayHeav'n's very kind "-the miller said the same. "Now, miller, possibly you may not guess At this same business I am come about: 'Tis this then,-know, I love your daughter Bess :There, Master Miller !—now the riddle's out. "I'm not for mincing matters, Sir! d'ye see— I likes your daughter Bess, and she likes me. "Poh!" quoth the miller, grinning at the tinker, "Thou dost not mean to marriage to persuade her; Ugly as is old Nick I needs must think her, Though, to be sure, 'tis said, 'twas me that made her. "No, no, though she's my daughter, I'm not blind; "No-I'm not drunk nor mad," the tinker cried, No girl in these two eyes doth Bet excel." "I know it," quoth the tinker, "know it well." And then she squints a thousand ways at once Why what the deuce is got into thy sconce?" 'Tis for that very thing, a show, I want her." AMBITION. DEEP in the crystalline water, and hid in a charming alcove, Deep in the crystalline water, and hid in a charming alcove, Lay many sons of the element,-shells of most wondrous formation, Sometimes the water ran noisily, turbulent in its career. "Aha!" laughed these beautiful shells, "it is little we care for thine uproar; Our charming alcove, though but small, protects us, in part, from thy fury." Far above these happy shells, nigh to the water's bright surface, Splendid recesses of coral, flashing amid the pure element, Ah! when the water ran noisily, turbulent in its career, These larger shells 'countered its fury in greater degree than the smaller ones, Because of the surface extensive which they to the water presented. And oft when the water coursed onward, ruled by the right hand of Alla, Bowed before the swift current, though feebly resisting its might,And, sorrowing, fell from their homes, down, down to the place of the smaller ones, And because of their grander condition the fall was, alas! much the greater. Now, one of the little shells lying secure in the lower alcove, This shell, so aspiring and eager to be o'er its fellow companions, Though vain, discontented and selfish, was shrewd in no minor degree, And therefore it chose to set out on a day when the waters were placid. Onward it cautiously went, gently rising amid the pure element, Gently progressing, and wary of things which might tend to obstruct, Then, resting awhile from its labours, it mused on the friends left behind, "Poor things! how I pity your folly; contented to dwell as ye are, With no inward wish to improve your condition, or heighten your rank ! Lamentable 'tis that your ignorance may not now be dissipated; How would ye loath your condition, and think with contempt of your lowliness! Thus mused the shell, then proceeded again on its watery way, Now it approached the larger shells, which it so often had envied, So, avoiding the dazzling alcoves in which dwelt these beautiful shells, The vain one proceeded with caution; and, rising amid the still water, In a while it arrived near the surface serene as the brow of an angel. And the radiant sun-glory poured through the waters so free from commotion, And circled the venturous shell in a halo of heavenly light, And all was effulgence and splendour, and paradise seemed to be there! Surrounded by glorious light, the beautiful shell murmured thus :— "What splendour! What richness I see! Yet above it must be more intense : Not here will I rest from my labours; no, no; I will rise, I will rise !" And they said to the poor foolish shell, "Oh, hadst thou remained with us here, Thou would'st never have been thus degraded, and happiness might have been thine; But no, thou wert restless and vain; and this is the fruit of Ambition !” WILLIAM F. PEACOCK. NAPOLEON. YES! bury him deep in the infinite sea; As far from the stretch of all earthly controul, Then his briny pall shall engirdle the world, And each mutinous billow, that's skyward curl'd, That name shall be storied in records sublime, In the uttermost corners of earth; Now breathed as a curse now a spell-word sublime, His airy form, on some lofty mast, In fire-fraught clouds shall appear, And mix with the shriek of the hurricane blast, His voice to the fancy of fear. Yes! plunge his dark heart in the infinite sea, It would burst from a narrower tomb Shall less than an ocean his sepulchre be, Whose mandate to millions was doom?-Poetical Album. |