But memory soon of service done deserteth the ingrate, And ye've thanked the son for life and crown by the father's bloody fate. 'Ye swore upon your kingly faith, to set Don Sancho free, But, curse upon your paltering breath, the light he ne'er did see; He died in dungeon cold and dim, by Alphonso's base decree, And visage blind, and stiffened limb, were all they gave to me. 'The King that swerveth from his word hath stained his purple black, No Spanish Lord will draw the sword behind a Liar's back; But noble vengeance shall be mine, an open hate I'll show The King hath injured Carpio's line, and Bernard is his foe.' 'Seize-seize him!'-loud the King doth scream-'There are a thousand here Let his foul blood this instant stream—What! caitiffs, do ye fear? Seize seize the traitor!'-But not one to move a finger dareth, Bernardo standeth by the throne, and calm his sword he bareth. He drew the faulchion from the sheath, and held it up on high, And all the hall was still as death: cried Bernard, ' Here am I, And here is the sword that owns no lord, excepting Heaven and me; Fain would I know who dares its point-King, Condé, or Grandee!' Then to his mouth the horn he drew-(it hung below his cloak) His ten true men the signal knew, and through the ring they broke ; With helm on head, and blade in hand, the knights the circle brake, And back the lordlings 'gan to stand, and the false king to quake. 'Ha! Bernard,' quoth Alphonso, 'what means this warlike guise? Ye know full well I jested-ye know your worth I prize.’– But Bernard turned upon his heel, and smiling passed away Long rued Alphonso and his realm the jesting of that day.* CXIV. J. G. Lockhart. THE DAFFODILS. WANDERED lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, A host, of golden daffodils; Continuous as the stars that shine Along the margin of a bay : Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. * Bernardo joined the Moors. The waves beside them danced, but they In such a jocund company : I gazed and gazed-but little thought For oft, when on my couch I lie W. Wordsworth. CXV. ADDRESS TO LIGHT. PARADISE LOST.' BOOK III. AIL, holy Light, offspring of Heaven first-born, Or of the Eternal co-eternal beam, May I express thee unblamed? since God is light, And never but in unapproachéd light Dwelt from eternity, dwelt then in thee, Of God, as with a mantle, didst invest Escaped the Stygian pool, though long detained Through utter and through middle darkness1 borne, I sung of Chaos and eternal Night; Taught by the heavenly Muse to venture down 6 Day, or the sweet approach of even or morn, 1 Utter darkness, Hell; middle darkness, Chaos. 2 Orpheus visited the infernal regions to regain his wife Eurydice. 3 Drop serene-Gutta Serena. 'Almost all the mountains, grots, and wells from which the Muses have derived their appellations are in Macedonia, Thessaly, or Beotia (Aonia). Such are Pimpla, Pindus, Helicon, Hippocrene, Aganippe, Leibethron, Parnassus, Castalia, and the Corycian cave.' 5 Flowery brooks,-Kedron and Siloam. 6 Thamyris, a Thracian poet. 7 Mæonides, Homer, son of Mæon, or born in Mæonia. 8 Tiresias, a Theban; Phineus, king of Thrace or Bithynia, both blind poets and prophets. Or sight of vernal bloom, or summer's rose, Of Nature's works, to me expunged and rased, Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers Of things invisible to mortal sight. Brak. of the Tower. HY looks your grace so heavily to-day? So full of ugly sights, of ghastly dreams, So full of dismal terror was the time. Brak. What was your dream, my Lord? I pray you tell me. Clar. Methought that I had broken from the Tower, And was embarked to cross to Burgundy,* * The Duchess of Burgundy was the sister of Clarence, Gloucester, and Edward IV. Her court was, therefore, the natural resort of the Yorkist party. |