Duly and cheerfully, to their toil; and up 'Room for the leper!' and aside they stood, "Twas daybreak now,- When at the altar of the temple stood The holy priest of God. The incense lamp Burned with a struggling light, and a low chaunt To ghastly thinness shrunk, the leper knelt- Died in the distant aisles; and he rose up, His costly raiment for the leper's garb, Then, with his sack-cloth round him, and his lips To hear his doom : 'Depart! depart, O child 'Of Israel from the temple of thy God! For He hath smote thee with His chastening rod, 'And to the desert wild, From all thou lov'st, away thy feet must flee, 'That from thy plague His people may be free.' The many whom he loved, nor she whose name "Tw The leper knelt beside a stagnant pool The loathsome water to his fevered lips, Crying, 'Unclean! unclean!' and, in the folds Beat for a moment with restoring thrill : The stranger gazed awhile, And laid it on his brow, and said, 'Be clean!' ; Willis. Ex. 165. The Drum. Yonder is a little drum, hanging on the wall; Dusty wreaths, and tattered flags, round about it fall. A shepherd youth on Cheviot's hills, watched the sheep whose skin A cunning workman wrought, and gave the little drum its din! O, pleasant are fair Cheviot's hills, with velvet verdure spread, And pleasant 'tis, among its heath, to make your summer bed; And sweet and clear are Cheviot's rills that trickle to its vales, And balmily its tiny flowers breathe on the passing gales. And thus hath felt the shepherd-boy while tending of his fold; Nor thought there was, in all the world, a spot like Cheviot's wold. And so it was for many a day !—but change with time will come; And he (alas for him the day!) he heard the little drum! 'Follow,' said the drummer-boy, 'would you live in story For he who strikes a foeman down, wins a wreath of glory.' 'Rub-a-dub!' and 'rub-a-dub!' the drummer beats awayThe shepherd lets his bleating flock o'er Cheviot wildly stray. On Egypt's arid wastes of sand the shepherd now is lying; Around him many a parching tongue for 'Water' faintly crying: O, that he were on Cheviot's hills, with velvet verdure spread, Or lying 'mid the blooming heath where oft he made his bed; Or could he drink of those sweet rills that trickle to its vales, Or breathe once more the balminess of Cheviot's mountain gales! At length upon his wearied eyes, the mists of slumber come, And he is in his home again-till wakened by the drum ! Take arms! take arms!' his leader cries, 'the hated foeman's nigh!' Guns loudly roar-steel clanks on steel, and thousands fall to die. The shepherd's blood makes red the sand: 'O! water-give me some! My voice might reach a friendly ear-but for that little drum!' 'Mid moaning men, and dying men, the drummer kept his way, [day. And many a one by 'glory' lured, did curse the drum that 'Rub-a-dub!' and 'rub-a-dub!' the drummer beat aloudThe shepherd died! and, ere the morn, the hot sand was his shroud. -And this is 'Glory?'-Yes; and still will man the tempter follow, [hollow! Nor learn that Glory, like its drum, is but a sound-and Ex. 166. The Burial of William the Conqueror. Lowly upon his bier The royal Conqueror lay; Baron and chief stood near, Silent, in war-array. Down the long minster's aisle Crowds mutely gazing streamed, Altar and tomb the while Through mists of incense gleamed. And, by the torches' blaze, The stately priest had said High words of power and praise To the glory of the dead. They lowered him, with the sound Of requiems, to repose; When from the throngs around Jerrold. 'Forbear! forbear!' it cried; 'By the violated hearth Which made way for yon proud shrine: 'By the house e'en here o'erthrown, 'Will my sire's unransomed field, Soft slumbers in the grave! 'The tree before him fell Which we cherished many a year; But its deep root yet shall swell, And heave against his bier. "The land that I have tilled Hath yet its brooding breast Hath been wet by weeping eyes— Where no wrong against him cries.' Shame glowed on each dark face Of those proud and steel-girt men, And they bought with gold a place For their leader's dust e'en then : A little earth for him Whose banner flew so far! And a peasant's tale could dim The name, a nation's star! One deep voice thus arose From a heart which wrongs had riven: Oh! who shall number those That are but heard in Heaven? Mrs. Hemans. Ex. 167. The Arab's Farewell to his Horse. My beautiful! my beautiful! that standest meekly by, With thy proudly arched and glossy neck, and dark and fiery eye, Fret not to roam the desert now with all thy winged speed, I may not mount on thee again,-thou art sold, my Arab steed; Fret not with that impatient hoof, snuff not the breezy wind The farther that thou fliest now, so far am I behind. The stranger hath thy bridle rein-thy master hath his goldFleet-limbed and beautiful! farewell: thou'rt sold, my steed, thou'rt sold. Farewell! these free untirèd limbs full many a mile must roam, To reach the chill and wintry sky, which clouds the stranger's home. Some other hand, less fond, must now thy corn and bed prepare The silky mane I braided once, must be another's care. The morning sun shall dawn again, but never more with thee Shall I gallop through the desert paths where we were wont to be. Evening shall darken on the earth, and o'er the sandy plain, Some other steed, with slower step, shall bear me home again; Yes, thou must go, the wild free breeze, the brilliant sun and sky, [fly, Thy master's home, from all of these, my exiled one must Thy proud dark eye will grow less proud, thy step become less fleet, And vainly shalt thou arch thy neck, thy master's hand to meet. Only in sleep shall I behold that dark eye glancing bright; Only in sleep shall hear again that step so firm and light; And when I raise my dreaming arm, to check or cheer thy speed, Then must I starting wake to feel thou'rt sold, my Arab steed, Ah! rudely then, unseen by me, some cruel hand may chide, Till foam-wreaths lie, like crested waves, along thy panting side, And the rich blood that is in thee, swells in thy indignant pain, Till careless eyes, which rest on thee, may count each started vein. |