Too seldom, if the righteous fight is won, A man too honest to become a slave: How few admire him! few, perhaps, bewail'd! He was a vulgar hero-for he fail'd: Such glorious honours soothe the patriot's shade! Of such materials History is made! But had his followers triumph'd, where he fell Fame would have hymn'd her village Hampden well, And Watt the Tyler been a William Tell. SONG. BRIGHT Word of God! that shin'st on high, Thou say'st He made thee bright for all, Lo! on the prisoner's dungeon'd eye, The sons of Want and Labour sigh Yet say'st thou, light is bright for all; To thee the lark, the eagle cry, The tiny wren, the little fly; On thee the seas, the mountains call: Thou say'st, God made thee bright for all, And dost not lie. CORONATION ODE. WRITTEN FOR THE SHEFFIELD WORKING MEN'S ASSOCIATION. VICTORIA, cypress-crown'd! thou good in vain! How the red wreath, with which thy name is bound The page which tells the first deeds of thy reign, Black and blood-bloated-cheer the Calmuck hound, Whose growl o'er Brunswick hails thee, cypresscrown'd! Canada weeps and yet her dead are free! Throned o'er their blood! who would not be a The Queen of new-made graves, who would not be ? Here too, O Queen, thy woe-worn people feel While fifty thousand idlers rob and glare, And mock the sufferings which they yet may share! The drama soon will end. Four acts are past: The curtain rises o'er embracing foes! But each dark smiler hugs his dagger fast! While Doom prepares his match, and waits the close! Queen of the Earthquake! would'st thou win or lose? Still shall the Car of Juggernaut roll on, O'er broken hearts and children born in vain, Banner'd with fire! while "thousand men as one " Sink down beneath its coward wheels of pain, That crush our souls, through crunching blood and brain! Stop!-for to ruin Antoinette was led, By men, who only when they died awoke! Base nobles who, o'er France vain darkness spread, And, goading her faint steeds with stroke on stroke, Loaded the wain-until the axles broke! Stop!" for the blasting engine's iron Laws,” Then saved not thrones from outraged Heav'n's control, When hunger urged up to the cannon's jaws A sea of men, with only one wild soul ! VOL. II. L VERSES ON THE OPENING OF THE SHEFFIELD AND ROTHERHAM RAILWAY. FORESTS!-thou river'd landscape wide !-- I stand on war-mark'd Winco's side, O'er man's worst enemies. They come the shrieking steam ascends They rush the towering vapour bends- Screams over thousands, thronging all To witness now the funeral Of law-created pain. Behold it-Osgathorpe, behold!+ Skies! brighten into blue and gold, O'er all the living vale! The morning was clouded, but burst into sudden splendour over the rushing trains. + A beautiful eminence between Sheffield and Winco-bank, and, like the latter, overlooking a landscape of equal beauty. |