And her little hand lay lightly, confidingly in mine; But we'll meet no more at Bingen, -loved Bingen on the Rhine."

His voice grew faint and hoarser, his grasp was childish

weak;

His eyes put on a dying look, he sighed, and ceased to

speak.

His comrade bent to lift him, but the spark of life had

fled:

The soldier of the Legion in a foreign land-was dead. And the soft moon rose up slowly, and calmly she looked down

On the red sand of the battlefield, with bloody corpses strown;1

Yea, calmly on that dreadful scene her pale light seemed to shine,

As it shone on distant Bingen, -fair Bingen on the Rhine!

MRS. NORTON.

103.- Love of Country.

Breathes there the man with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said,

This is my own, my native land!

Whose heart hath ne'er within him burned,
As home his footsteps he hath turned,
From wandering on a foreign strand! 2

1 strown = strewed.

2 foreign strand, foreign land.

If such there breathe, go, mark him well:
For him no minstrel raptures1 swell.
High though his titles, proud his name,
Boundless his wealth as wish can claim;
Despite those titles, power, and pelf,2
The wretch, concentered all in self,
Living, shall forfeit fair renown,

5

4

And, doubly dying, shall go down
To the vile dust from whence he sprung,
Unwept, unhonored, and unsung.

SCOTT.

104.- The German Fatherland.

This is a partial translation of a famous German national song by Professor Arndt. It was written at a time when Germany was divided into many independent states, and was designed to rouse, as it did, the spirit of German unity.

"What country does a German claim?
His Fatherland, -know'st thou its name?
Is it Bavaria? Saxony?

An inland state, or on the sea?

There on the Baltic's plains of sand,
Or mid the Alps of Switzerland?

1 minstrel raptures, praises of "concentered all in self;

the poet; hence fame.

2 pelf, riches, but conveying a contemptuous idea of property or wealth.

utterly selfish.

"that is,

4 fair, beautiful, honorable.

5 doubly dying: that is, dying not only bodily, but in the rememconcentrated; brances of his fellow-men.

Austria? the Adriatic shores?

Or where the Prussian eagle soars?
Or where the hills, clad by the vine,
Adorn the landscape of the Rhine?
O no! O no! not there alone,

The land with pride we call our own;
Not there a German's heart or mind
Is to no narrow realm confined.
Where'er he hears his native tongue,
When hymns of praise to God are sung,
There is his Fatherland, and he

Has but one country, GERMANY!"

105. The Eve before Waterloo.

This powerful descriptive poem is an extract from Lord Byron's "Childe Harold" (Canto III.). The battle of Waterloo was fought between the French under Napoleon and the English under Wellington in 1815, Napoleon being overthrown. Waterloo is a hamlet ten miles distant from Brussels, "Belgium's capital." To understand some of the allusions, it should be mentioned, that, when the impending battle was announced, many of the British officers were present at a ball at the British embassy in Brussels.

There was a sound of revelry by night,
And Belgium's capital had gathered then
Her beauty and her chivalry,' and bright

The lamps shone o'er fair women and brave men.

1 beauty... chivalry; i.e., beau- | figure is synecdoche. (See Definitiful women and brave men. The tion 7.)

A thousand hearts beat happily; and when
Music arose with its voluptuous swell,

Soft eyes looked love to eyes which spake again,
And all went merry as a marriage bell.

But, hush! hark! a deep sound strikes like a rising

Did ye not hear it? No: 'twas but the wind,

Or the car rattling o'er the stony street.

On with the dance! let joy be unconfined;

No sleep till morn, when Youth and Pleasure meet
To chase the glowing hours with flying feet.
But, hark! that heavy sound breaks in once more,
As if the clouds its echo would repeat;

And nearer, clearer, deadlier than before!

Arm! arm! it is it is the cannon's opening roar !

Ah! then and there was hurrying to and fro,
And gathering tears, and tremblings of distress,
And cheeks all pale, which but an hour ago
Blushed at the praise of their own loveliness.
And there were sudden partings, such as press
The life from out young hearts, and choking sighs
Which ne'er might be repeated: who could guess
If ever more should meet those mutual eyes,
Since upon night so sweet such awful morn could rise!

And there was mounting in hot haste: the steed,
The mustering squadron, and the clattering car,
Went pouring forward with impetuous speed,
And swiftly forming in the ranks of war;

And the deep thunder peal on peal afar;
And near, the beat of the alarming drum
Roused up the soldier ere the morning star;

While thronged the citizens with terror dumb, Or whispering with white lips, "The foe! they come! they come!"

1

And wild and high the "Cameron's Gathering " rose,
The war note of Lochiel, which Albyn's2 hills
Have heard — and heard, too, have her Saxon foes:
How in the noon of night that pibroch thrills,
Savage and shrill! But with the breath which fills
Their mountain pipe, so fill the mountaineers
With the fierce native daring which instills
The stirring memory of a thousand years,

And Evan's, Donald's fame rings in each clansman's ears!

6

And Ardennes waves above them her green leaves,
Dewy with Nature's teardrops as they pass,
Grieving, if aught inanimate e'er grieves,
Over the unreturning brave-alas!

1 "Cameron's Gathering." It should be borne in mind that in Wellington's army were several regiments of Scottish Highlanders, and that "Cameron's Gathering" is a battle tune, the "war note" of Lochiel (lo-keel'), the chief of the Cameron clan.

2 Albyn; i.e., Scotland.

3 Saxon foes; i.e., the Lowland Scotch, with whom the Highlanders were long at enmity.

4 pibroch (pē'brok), a bagpipe tune; and the reference is to the "Cameron's Gathering."

5 Evan's, Donald's. Evan and Donald are very common Christian names among the Highland clansmen.

6 Ardennes (pron. är-den'; but here, for sake of meter, är'den); i.e., the forest of Ardennes, and which the poet uses to typify Belgium.