IV. Though the virgins of Salem lament, V. When this blood of thy giving hath gush'd, OH! SNATCH'D AWAY IN BEAUTY'S BLOOM. I. OH! snatch'd away in beauty's bloom, Their leaves, the earliest of the year; II. And oft by yon blue gushing stream Shall Sorrow lean her drooping head, Fond wretch! as if her step disturb'd the dead! III. Away! we know that tears are vain, Thy looks are wan, thine eyes are wet. MY SOUL IS DARK. 1. My soul is dark-Oh! quickly string That sound shall charm it forth again: If in these eyes there lurk a tear, 'Twill flow, and cease to burn my brain. But bid the strain be wild and deep, 1 SAW THEE WEEP. I. I SAW thee weep-the big bright tear And then methought it did appear I saw thee smile-the sapphire's blaze It could not match the living rays II. As clouds from yonder sun receive Which scarce the shade of coming eve Can banish from the sky, Those smiles unto the moodiest mind Their sunshine leaves a glow behind THY DAYS ARE DONE. I. THY days are done, thy fame begun; The freedom he restored! II. Though thou art fall'n, while we are free The generous blood that flow'd from thee Within our veins its currents be, III. Thy name, our charging hosts along, Thy fall, the theme of choral song Το weep would do thy glory wrong; Thou shalt not be deplored. SONG OF SAUL BEFORE HIS LAST BATTLE. I. WARRIORS and chiefs! should the shaft or the sword Pierce me in leading the host of the Lord, Heed not the corse, though a king's, in your path : Bury your steel in the bosoms of Gath! II. Thou who art bearing my buckler and bow, III. Farewell to others, but never we part, SAUL. (1) I. THOU whose spell can raise the dead, King, behold the phantom seer!" Earth yawn'd; he stood the centre of a cloud: His hand was wither'd, and his veins were dry; (1) [Haunted with that insatiable desire of searching into the secrets of futurity, inseparable from uncivilised man, Saul knew not to what quarter to turn. The priests, outraged by his cruelty, had forsaken him: the prophets stood aloof: no dreams visited his couch; he had persecuted even the unlawful diviners. He hears at last of a female necromancer, a woman with the spirit of Ob; strangely similar in sound to the Obeah women in the West Indies. To the cave-dwelling of this woman, in Endor, the monarch proceeds in disguise. He commands her to raise the spirit of Samuel. At this daring demand, the woman first recognises, or pretends to recognise, her royal visitor. "Whom seest thou?" says the king. "Mighty ones ascending from the earth."-" Of what form?"-" An old man covered with a mantle." Saul, in terror, bows down his head to the earth; and, it should seem, not daring to look up, receives from the voice of the spectre the awful intimation of his defeat and death. On the reality of this apparition we pretend not to decide: the figure, if figure there were, was not seen by Saul; and, excepting the event of the approaching battle, the spirit said nothing which the living prophet had not said before, repeatedly and publicly. But the fact is curious, as showing the popular belief of the Jews in departed spirits to have been the same with that of most other nations. - -MILLMAN.] |