The Zegri, and the captive victors, flung
Back to the barbarous realm from whence they sprung. But these are gone-their faith, their swords, their sway,
Yet left more anti-christian foes than they; The bigot monarch, and the butcher priest, The Inquisition, with her burning feast, The faith's red 'auto,' fed with human fuel, While sate the catholic Moloch, calmly cruel, Enjoying, with inexorable eye,
That fiery festival of agony !
The stern or feeble sovereign, one or both
By turns; the haughtiness whose pride was sloth; The long degenerate noble; the debased Hidalgo, and the peasant less disgraced, But more degraded; the unpeopled realm; The once proud navy which forgot the helm ; The once impervious phalanx disarray'd; The idle forge that form'd Toledo's blade; The foreign wealth that flow'd on ev'ry shore, Save hers who earn'd it with the natives' gore; The very language which might vie with Rome's, And once was known to nations like their homes, Neglected or forgotten:-such was Spain; But such she is not, nor shall be again. These worst, these home invaders, felt and feel The new Numantine soul of old Castile. Up! up again! undaunted Tauridor! The bull of Phalaris renews his roar ; Mount, chivalrous Hidalgo! not in vain Revive the cry !-'Iago! and close Spain !'* Yes, close her with your armed bosoms round, And form the barrier which Napoleon found,- The exterminating war, the desert plain, The streets without a tenant, save the slain; The wild sierra, with its wilder troop Of vulture-plumed guerrillas, on the stoop For their incessant prey; the desperate wall, Of Saragossa, mightiest in her fall; The man nerved to a spirit, and the maid Waving her more than Amazonian blade; The knife of Arragon,† Toledo's steel; The famous lance of chivalrous Castile: The unerring rifle of the Catalan ; The Andalusian courser in the van;
The torch to make a Moscow of Madrid; And in each heart the spirit of the Cid :-
Such have been, such shall be, such are. Advance, And win-not Spain! but thine own freedom, France!
But lo! a Congress! What! that hallow'd name Which freed the Atlantic! May we hope the same For outworn Europe? With the sound arise, Like Samuel's shade to Saul's monarchic eyes, The prophets of young Freedom, summon'd far From climes of Washington and Bolivar; Henry, the forest-born Demosthenes, Whose thunder shook the Philip of the seas;
**St. Iago! and close Spain!' the old Spanish war-cry
The Arragonians are peculiarly dexterous in the use of this weapon, and displayed it particularly in former French wars.
And stoic Franklin's energetic shade, Robed in the lightnings which his hand allay'd; And Washington, the tyrant-tamer, wake, To bid us blush for these old chains, or break. But who compose this senate of the few That should redeem the many? Who renew This consecrated name, till now assign'd To councils held to benefit mankind? Who now assemble at the holy call? The blest Alliance, which says three are all! An earthly trinity! which wears the shape Of heaven's, as man is mimick'd by the ape. A pious unity! in purpose one-
To melt three fools to a Napoleon, Why, Egypt's gods were rational to these; Their dogs and oxen knew their own degrees. And, quiet in their kennel or their shed, Cared little, so that they were duly fed;
But these, more hungry, must have something
The power to bark and bite, to toss and gore. Ah, how much happier were good Æsop's frogs Than we for ours are animated logs, With ponderous malice swaying to and fro, And crushing nations with a stupid blow; All duly anxious to leave little work Unto the revolutionary stork.
Thrice blest Verona ! since the holy three With their imperial presence shine on thee! Honour'd by them, thy treacherous site forgets The vaunted tomb of all the Capulets;' Thy Scaligers-for what was 'Dog the Great,' 'Can Grande,' (which I venture to translate,) To these sublimer pugs? Thy poet too, Catullus, whose old laurels yield to new; Thine amphitheatre, where Romans sate; And Dante's exile shelter'd by thy gate; Thy good old man, whose world was all within Thy wall, nor knew the country held him in; Would that the royal guests it girds about Were so far like, as never to get out!
Ay, shout inscribe! rear monuments of shame, To tell Oppression that the world is tame! Crowd to the theatre with loyal rage, The comedy is not upon the stage; The show is rich in ribandry and stars, Then gaze upon it through thy dungeon bars; Clap thy permitted palms, kind Italy, For thus much still thy fetter'd hands are free X.
Resplendent sight! Behold the coxcomb Czar, The autocrat of waltzes and of war! As eager for a plaudit as a realm, And just as fit for flirting as the helm ; A Calmuck beauty with a Cossack wit, And generous spirit, when 'tis not frost-bit: Now half dissolving to a liberal thaw, But harden'd back whene'er the morning's raw; With no objection to true liberty, Except that it would make the nations free.
• The famous old man of Veroi,
How well the imperial dandy prates of peace! How fain, if Greeks would be his slaves, free Greece!
How nobly gave he back the Poles their Diet, Then told pugnacious Poland to be quiet! How kindly would he send the mild Ukraine, With all her pleasant pulks, to lecture Spain! How royally show off in proud Madrid
His goodly person, from the South long hid! A blessing cheaply purchased, the world knows, By having Muscovites for friends or foes. Proceed, thou namesake of great Philip's son ! La Harpe, thine Aristotle, beckons on; And that which Scythia was to him of yore Find with thy Scythians on Iberia's shore. Yet think upon, thou somewhat aged youth, Thy predecessor on the banks of Pruth; Thou hast to aid thee, should his lot be thine, Many an old woman, but no Catherine.* Spain, too, hath rocks, and rivers, and defiles- The bear may rush into the lion's toils. Fatal to Goths are Xeres' sunny fields; Think'st thou to thee Napoleon's victor yields? Better reclaim thy deserts, turn thy swords To ploughshares, shave and wash thy Bashkir hordes, Redeem thy realms from slavery and the knout, Than follow headlong in the fatal route,
To infest the clime whose skies and laws are pure With thy foul legions. Spain wants no manure : Her soil is fertile, but she feeds no foe: Her vultures, too, were gorged not long ago; And wouldst thou furnish them with fresher prey? Alas! thou wilt not conquer, but purvey. I am Diogenes, thou Russ and Hun
Stand between mine and many a myriad's sun; But were I not Diogenes, I'd wander Rather a worm than such an Alexander! Be slaves who will, the cynic shall be free; His tub hath tougher walls than Sinopè: Still will he hold his lantern up to scan, The face of monarchs for an 'honest man.'
And what doth Gaul, the all-prolific land Of ne plus ultra ultras and their band Of mercenaries? and her noisy chambers And tribune, which each orator first clambers Before he finds a voice, and when 'tis found, Hears 'the lie' echo for his answer round? Our British Commons sometimes deign to hear! A Gallic senate hath more tongue than ear; Even Constant, their sole master of debate, Must fight next day his speech to vindicate. But this costs little to true Franks, who'd rather Combat than listen, were it to their father. What is the simple standing of a shot, To listening long, and interrupting not? Though this was not the method of old Rome, When Tully fulmined o'er each vocal dome, Demosthenes has sanction'd the transaction, In saying eloquence meant Action, action !'
The dexterity of Catherine extricated Peter (called)
But where's the monarch? hath he dined? or yet Groans beneath indigestion's heavy debt? Have revolutionary patés risen,
And turn'd the royal entrails to a prison? Have discontented movements stirr'd the troops? Or have no movements.followed traitorous soups? Have Carbonaro cooks not carbonadoed Each course enough! or doctors dire dissuaded Repletion? Ah! in thy dejected looks
I read all France's treason in her cooks! Good classic Louis! is it, canst thou say, Desirable to be the Desiré?'
Why wouldst thou leave calm Hartwell's green abode, Apician table, and Horatian ode,
To rule a people who will not be ruled,
And love much rather to be scourged than school'd? Ah! thine was not the temper or the taste For thrones; the table sees thee better placed: A mild Epicurean, form'd, at best, To be a kind host and as good a guest, To talk of letters, and to know by heart One half the poet's, all the gourmand's art: A scholar always, now and then a wit, And gentle when digestion may permit ;- But not to govern lands enslaved or free; The gout was martyrdom enough for thee.
Shall noble Albion pass without a phrase From a bold Briton in her wonted praise? 'Arts-arms-and George-and glory, and the isles- And happy Britain-wealth, and Freedom's smiles- White cliffs, that held invasion far aloof- Contented subjects, all alike tax-proof-
Proud Wellington, with eagle beak so curl'd, That nose, the hook where he suspends the world!* And Waterloo-and trade-and-hush not yet A syllable of imposts or of debt)-
And ne'er (enough) lamented Castlereagh, Whose penknife slit a goose-quill t'other day-- And "pilots who have weather'd every storm,"— (But, no, not even for rhyme's sake, name reform).' These are the themes thus sung so oft before, Methinks we need not sing them any more; Found in so many volumes far and near, There's no occasion you should find them here. Yet something may remain perchance to chime With reason, and, what's stranger still, with rhyme. Even this thy genius, Canning! may permit, Who, bred a statesman, still was born a wit, And never, even in that dull House, couldst tame To unleaven'd prose thine own poetic flame; Our last, our best, our only orator, Even I can praise thee-Tories do no more: Nay, not so much;-they hate thee, man, because Thy spirit less upholds them than it awes. The hounds will gather to their huntsman's hollo, And where he leads the duteous pack will follow; But not for love mistake their yelling cry; Their yelp for game is not an eulogy;
Naso suspendit adunco.'-HORACE.
the Great by courtesy), when surrounded by the Mus- The Roman applies it to one who merely was imperi sulmans on the banks of the river Pruth.
Less faithful far than the four-footed pack, A dubious scent would lure the bipeds back, Thy saddle-girths are not yet quite secure, Nor royal stallion's feet extremely sure; The unwieldy old white horse is apt at last To stumble, kick, and now and then stick fast With his great self and rider in the mud; But what of that? the animal shows blood.
Alas, the country! how shall tongue or pen Bewail her now uncountry gentlemen? The last to bid the cry of warfare cease, The first to make a malady of peace. For what were all these country patriots born? To hunt, and vote, and raise the price of corn? But corn, like every mortal thing, must fall, Kings, conquerors, and markets most of all. And must ye fall with every ear of grain? Why would you trouble Buonaparte's reign? He was your great Triptolemus; his vices Destroy'd but realms, and still maintain'd your prices;
He amplified to every lord's content The grand agrarian alchymy, hight rent. Why did the tyrant stumble on the Tartars, And lower wheat to such desponding quarters ? Why did you chain him on yon isle so lone? The man was worth much more upon his throne. True, blood and treasure boundlessly were spilt, But what of that? the Gaul may bear the guilt; But bread was high, the farmer paid his way, And acres told upon the appointed day. But where is now the goodly audit ale? The purse-proud tenant, never known to fail? The farm which never yet was left on hand? The marsh reclaim'd to most improving land? The impatient hope of the expiring lease? The doubling rental? What an evil's peace! In vain the prize excites the ploughman's skill, In vain the Commons pass their patriot bill; The landed interest-(you may understand The phrase much better leaving out the land) — The land self-interest groans from shore to shore, For fear that plenty should attain the poor. Up, up again, ye rents! exalt your notes, Or else the ministry will lose their votes, And patriotism, so delicately nice, Her loaves will lower to the market price; For ah! the loaves and fishes,' once so high, Are gone their oven closed, their ocean dry, And nought remains of all the millions spent, Excepting to grow moderate and content. They who are not so, had their turn-and turn About still flows from Fortune's equal urn; Now let their virtue be its own reward,
Blood, sweat, and tear-wrung millions-why? for rent! They roar'd, they dined, they drank, they swore they
To die for England-why then live?-for rent ! The peace has made one general malcontent Of these high-market patriots; war was rent! Their love of country, millions all misspent, How reconcile? by reconciling rent! And will they not repay the treasures lent? No; down with everything, and up with rent! Their good, ill, health, wealth, joy, or discontent, Being, end, aim, religion-rent, rent, rent! Thou sold'st thy birthright, Esau, for a mess; Thou shouldst have gotten more, or eaten less; Now thou hast swill'd thy pottage, thy demands Are idle; Israel says the bargain stands. Such, landlords! was your appetite for war, And gorged with blood, you grumble at a scar! What! would they spread their earthquake even o'er cash?
And when land crumbles, bid firm paper crash? So rent may rise, bid bank and nation fall, And found on 'Change a Fundling hospital! Lo, Mother Church, while all religion writhes, Like Niobe, weeps o'er her offspring, Tithes; The prelates go to-where the saints have gone, And proud pluralities subside to one; Church, state, and faction wrestle in the dark, Toss'd by the deluge in their common ark. Shorn of her bishops, banks, and dividends, Another Babel soars-but Britain ends. And why? to pamper the self-seeking wants, And prop the hill of these agrarian ants. 'Go to these ants, thou sluggard, and be wise ;' Admire their patience through each sacrifice, Till taught to feel the lesson of their pride, The price of taxes and of homicide; Admire their justice, which would fain deny The debt of nations:-pray, who made it high?
Or turn to sail between those shifting rocks, The new Symplegades-the crushing Stocks, Where Midas might again his wish behold In real paper or imagined gold, That magic palace of Alcina shows More wealth than Britain ever had to lose, Were all her atoms of unleaven'd ore, And all her pebbles from Pactolus' shore. There Fortune plays, while Rumour holds the
And the world trembles to bid brokers break.
How rich is Britain! not indeed in mines, Or peace, or plenty, corn or oil, or wines; No land of Canaan, full of milk and honey, Nor (save in paper shekels) ready money:
And share the blessings which themselves prepared. But let us not to own the truth refuse,
See these inglorious Cincinnati swarm, Farmers of war, dictators of the farm;
Their ploughshare was the sword in hireling hands, Their fields manured by gore of other lands;} Safe in their barns, these Sabine tillers sent Their brethren out to battle-why? for rent! Year after year they voted cent. per cent.,
Was ever Christian land so rich in Jews? Those parted with their teeth to good King John, And now, ye kings! they kindly draw your own; All states, all things, all sovereigns they control, And waft a loan from Indus to the pole.' The banker-broker-baron-brethren, speed To aid these bankrupt tyrants in their need.
Nor these alone; Columbia feels no less Fresh speculations follow each success; And philanthropic Israel deigns to drain Her mild per-centage from exhausted Spain, Not without Abraham's seed can Russia march; 'Tis gold, not steel, that rears the conqueror's arch. Two Jews, a chosen people, can command
In every realm their scripture-promised land :-- Two Jews keep down the Romans, and uphold The accursed Hun, more brutal than of old: Two Jews-but not Samaritans-direct The world, with all the spirit of their sect. What is the happiness of earth to them? A congress forms their 'New Jerusalem,' Where baronies and orders both invite-- Oh, holy Abraham! dost thou see the sight? Thy followers mingling with these royal swine, Who spit not on their Jewish gaberdine,' But honour them as portion of the show- (Where now, oh Pope! is thy forsaken toe? Could it not favour Judah with some kicks? Or has it ceased to 'kick against the pricks?") On Shylock's shore behold them stand afresh, To cut from nations' hearts their pound of flesh.'
Strange sight this Congress! destined to unite All that's incongruous, all that's opposite. I speak not of the sovereigns-they're alike, A common coin as ever mint could strike; But those who sway the puppets, pull the strings, Have more of motley than their heavy kings. Jews, authors, generals, charlatans, combine, While Europe wonders at the vast design: There Metternich, power's foremost parasite, Cajoles; there Wellington forgets to fight; There Chateaubriand forms new books of martyrs;* And subtle Greeks intrigue for stupid Tartars; There Montmorenci, the sworn foe to charters, Turns a diplomatist of great éclat, To furnish articles for the 'Débats ;' Of war so certain-yet not quite so sure As his dismissal in the Moniteur.' Alas! how could his cabinet thus err ! Can peace be worth an ultra-minister? He falls indeed, perhaps to rise again, 'Almost as quickly as he conquer'd Spain.'
Enough of this-a sight more mournful woos The averted eye of the reluctant muse. The imperial daughter, the imperial bride, The imperial victim-sacrifice to pride;
* Monsieur Chateaubriand, who has not forgotten the
The mother of the hero's hope, the boy, The young Astyanax of modern Troy; The still pale shadow of the loftiest queen That earth has yet to see, or e'er hath seen; She flits amidst the phantoms of the hour, The theme of pity, and the wreck of power. Oh, cruel mockery! Could not Austria spare A daughter? What did France's widow there? Her fitter place was by St. Helen's wave, Her only throne is in Napoleon's grave. But, no-she still must hold a petty reign, Flank'd by her formidable chamberlain ; The martial Argus, whose not hundred eyes Must watch her through these paltry pageantries. What though she share no more, and shared in vain, A sway surpassing that of Charlemagne, Which swept from Moscow to the southern seas! Yet still she rules the pastoral realm of cheese, Where Parma views the traveller resort, To note the trappings of her mimic court. But she appears! Verona sees her shorn Of all her beams-while nations gaze and mourn- Ere yet her husband's ashes have had time To chill in their inhospitable clime;
(If e'er those awful ashes can grow cold ;- But no,-their embers soon will burst the mould;) She comes-the Andromache (but not Racine's, Nor Homer's,)-Lo! on Pyrrhus' arm she leans! Yes! the right arm, yet red from Waterloo, Which cut her lord's half-shatter'd sceptre through, Is offer'd and accepted? Could a slave
Do more? or less?-and he in his new grave!
Her eye, her cheek, betray no inward strife, And the ex-empress grows as ex a wife! So much for human ties in royal breasts! Why spare men's feelings, when their own are jests?
But, tired of foreign follies, I turn home,
And sketch the group-the picture's yet to come. My muse 'gan weep, but ere a tear was spilt, She caught Sir William Curtis in a kilt! While throng'd the chiefs of every Highland clan To hail their brother, Vich Ian Alderman ! Guildhall grows Gael, and echoes with Erse roar, While all the Common Council cry 'Claymore I' To see proud Albyn's tartans as a belt Gird the gross surloin of a city Celt, She burst into a laughter so extreme, That I awoke,-and lo! it was no dream!
Here, reader, will we pause:-if there's no harm in This first-you'll have, perhaps, a second 'Carmen.'
author in the minister, received a handsome compli-who-who has written something? (écrit quelque ment at Verona from a literary sovereign: Ah! Mon- chose !) It is said that the author of Atala repented sieur C., are you related to that Chateaubriand who him for a moment of his legitimacy.
words and Co.
With their damnable
Not a rag of his present or past reputation, Which they call a disgrace to the age and the nation. Ink. I'm sorry to hear this! for friendship, you
Our poor friend!--but I thought it would terminate so, Our friendship is such, I'll read nothing to shock it. You don't happen to have the Review in your pocket? Tra. No; I left a round dozen of authors and
(Very sorry, no doubt, since the cause is a bro ther's)
All scrambling and jostling, like so many imps.
And on fire with impatience to get the next glimpse. Ink. Let us join them.
Tra. What, won't you return to the lecture? Ink. Why the place is so cramm'd, there's not room for a spectre.
There's Vamp, Scamp, and Mouthy, and Words-Besides, our friend Scamp is to-day so absurd----- Tra. How can you know that till you hear him? Ink. I heard Quite enough; and, to tell you the truth, my retreat Was from his vile nonsense, no less than the heat Tra. I have had no great loss, then? Ink.
Ink. Hold, my good friend, do you know Whom you speak to? Tra. Right well, boy, and so does "the Row:" You're an author-a poet-
Can stand tamely in silence, to hear you decry The Muses?
Tra. Excuse me: I meant no offence
To the Nine; though the number who make some! pretence
To their favours is such-but the subject to drop, I am just piping hot from a publisher's shop, (Next door to the pastry-cook's; so that when I Cannot find the new volume I wanted to buy On the bibliopole's shelves, it is only two paces, As one finds every author in one of those places :) Where I just had been skimming a charming critique, So studded with wit, and so sprinkled with Greek! Where your friend-you know who-has just got such a thrashing,
That it is, as the phrase goes, extremely "refresh- ing."
Loss-such a palaver! I'd inoculate sooner my wife with the slaver of a dog when gone rabid, than listen two hours To the torrent of trash which around him he pours, Pump'd up with such effort, disgorged with such labour,
That-come-do not make me speak ill of one's neighbour.
And so cooling-they use it a little too oft; And the papers have got it at last-but no matter. So they 've cut up our friend, then?
Than Scamp, or the Jew's harp he nicknames his lyre,
To call you to this hotbed.
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