Page 263.-THE LOST LEADER.-In his earlier years, Wordsworth, who had travelled in France during the French Revolution, was very democratic in his opinions, but afterward grew more conservative, which some of his old associates attributed to his having received from the English government the office of poet-laureate.

Page 267.-ICHABOD.-"And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel." 1 Samuel iv. 21. This poem was written upon receipt of the intelligence of Daniel Webster's speech in the U. S. Senate, March 7, 1850, in defence of the Compromise measures, and especially of the Fugitive Slave Law.

Page 273.-LINES WRITTEN ON THE NIGHT OF THE 30TH OF JULY, 1847.-The contest was short, but sharp. For ten days the city was white with broadsides, and the narrow courts off the High street rang with the dismal strains of innumerable ballad-singers. The opposition was nominally directed against both the sitting members, but from the first it was evident that all the scurrility was meant exclusively for Macaulay. He came scathless even out of that ordeal. The vague charge of being too much of an essayist and too little of a politician was the worst that either saint or sinner could find to say of him. The burden of half the election songs was to the effect that he had written poetry, and that one who knew so much of ancient Rome could not possibly be the man for modern England. The day of nomination was the 29th of July. The space in front of the hustings had been packed by the advocates of cheap whiskey. Professor Aytoun, who stooped to second Mr. Blackburn, was applauded to his heart's content, while Macaulay was treated with a brutality the details of which are painful to read and would be worse than useless to record. The polling took place on the morrow. A considerable number of the Tories, instead of plumping for Blackburn or dividing their favors with the sitting members (who were both of them moderate Whigs and supporters of the Establishment), thought fit to give their second votes to Mr. Cowan, an avowed Voluntaryist in church matters and the accepted champion of the Radical party.

"I waited with Mr. Macaulay," says Mr. Adam Black, "in a room of the Merchants' Hall to receive at every hour the numbers who had polled in all the districts. At 10 o'clock we were confounded to find that he was 150 below Cowan, but still had faint hopes that the next hour might turn the scale. The next hour came, and a darker prospect. At 12 o'clock he was 340 below Cowan. It was obvious now that the field was lost, but we were left from hour to hour under the torture of a sinking poll, till at 4 o'clock it stood thus:

Cowan, 2063; Craig, 1854; Macaulay, 1477 ; Blackburn, 980,"

That same night, while the town was still alive with jubilation over a triumph that soon lost its gloss even in the eyes of those who had won it, Macaulay, in the grateful silence of his chamber, was weaving his perturbed thoughts into those exquisite lines which tell within the compass of a score of stanzas the essential secret of the life whose outward aspect these volumes have endeav ored to portray.—Macaulay's Life and Letters.

Page 291.-HARMOZAN.-After a noble defence, Harmozan, the prince or satrap of Ahwaz and Susa, was compelled to surrender his person and his state to the discretion of the caliph; and their interview exhibits a portrait of the Arabian manners. In the presence and by the command of Omar the gay barbarian was despoiled of his silken robes embroidered with gold, and of his tiara bedecked with rubies and emeralds. “Are you not sensible," said the conqueror to his naked captive--"are you not sensible of the judgment of God, and of the different rewards of infidelity and obedience?"-"Alas!" replied Harmozan, "I feel them too deeply. In the days of our common ignorance we fought with the weapons of the flesh, and my nation was superior. God was then neuter; since He has espoused your quarrel you have subverted our kingdom and religion." Oppressed by this painful dialogue, the Persian complained of intolerable thirst, but discovered some apprehension lest he should be killed whilst he was drinking a eup of water. "Be of good courage," said the caliph; "your life is safe till you have drunk this water." The crafty satrap accepted the assurance, and instantly dashed the vase against the ground. Omar would have avenged the deceit, but his companions represented the sanctity of an oath; and the speedy conversion of Harmozan entitled him not only to a free pardon, but even to a stipend of two thousand pieces of gold. — Gibbon's Rome, chap. li.

Page 292.-CRESCENTIUS.-Crescentius was consul of the Romans in the reign of the Emperor Otho III. He attempted to shake off the Saxon yoke, and was besieged by Otho in the Mole of Hadrian (long called the Tower of Crescentius). He was betrayed and beheaded.—Bellew's Poets' Corner.

Page 292.-THE VENGEANCE OF MUDARA.Gonçalo Bustos de Salas de Lara, a Castilian hero of the eleventh century, had seven sons. His brother, Rodrigo Velasquez, married a Moorish lady, and these seven nephews were invited to the feast. A fray took place in which one of the seven slew a Moor, and the bride demanded

vengeance. Rodrigo, to please his bride, waylaid his brother Gonçalo, and kept him in durance in a dungeon of Cordova, and the seven boys were betrayed into a ravine where they were cruelly murdered. While in the dungeon the daughter of the Moorish king fell in love with Gonçalo and became the mother of Mudara, who avenged the death of Lara's seven sons by slaying Rodrigo. -Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable.

Page 293.-THE BARD.-This ode is founded on a tradition current in Wales, that Edward I., when he completed the conquest of that country, ordered all the Bards that fell into his hands to be put to death. The original argument of this ode, as Mr. Gray had set it down in one of the pages of his commonplace book, was as follows: The army of Edward I., as they march through a deep valley, are suddenly stopped by the appearance of a venerable figure seated on the summit of an inaccessible rock, who, with a voice more than human, reproaches the king with all the misery and desolation which he had brought on his country; foretells the misfortunes of the Norman race, and with prophetic spirit declares that all his cruelty shall never extinguish the noble ardor of poetic genius in this island; and that men shall never be wanting to celebrate true virtue and valor in immortal strains, to expose vice and infamous pleasure, and boldly censure tyranny and oppression. His song ended, he precipitates himself from the mountain, and is swallowed up by the river that rolls at its foot.-Gray's Poems.

Page 295.-A VERY MOURNFUL BALLAD.-The effect of the original ballad (which existed both in Spanish and Arabic) was such that it was forbidden to be sung by the Moors, on pain of death, within Granada.-Byron's Poems.

Page 296.-THE LORD OF BUTRAGO.-The in

cident to which this ballad relates is supposed to have occurred on the famous field of Aljubarrota, where King Juan I. of Castile was defeated by the Portuguese. The king, who was at the time in a feeble state of health, exposed himself very much during the action, and, being wounded, had great difficulty in making his escape. The battle was fought A. D. 1385.-Lockhart's Spanish Ballads.

Page 297.-MAKE WAY FOR LIBERTY!-This poem is founded on the heroic achievement of Arnold de Winkelried at the battle of Sempach, which was fought on the 9th of July, 1386. In this battle the Swiss gained a great victory over Leopold, Duke of Austria, and secured the liberty of their country, which had been grossly oppressed by Austria.

Page 298.-THE BALLAD OF AGINCOURT.-In

the battle of Agincourt, fought on the 25th of October, 1415, Henry V. of England, with an army of about ten thousand men, totally defeated the French under the Constable d'Albret. The French army consisted of about sixty thousand

men.

Page 299.-THE BALLAD OF CHEVY CHACE.There had long been a rivalry between the families of Percy and Douglas, which showed itself by incessant raids into each other's territory. Percy of Northumberland one day vowed he would hunt for three days in the Scottish border without condescending to ask leave of Earl Douglas. The Scottish warden said in his anger, "Tell this vaunter he shall find one day more than sufficient." The ballad called " Chevy Chace" mixes up this hunt with the battle of Otterburn, which, Dr. Percy justly observes, was "a very different event." Chevy Chace means the chase or hunt among the "Chyviat hyls.” Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable.

wars.

Page 302.-EDINBURGH AFTER FLODDEN.-The great battle of Flodden was fought upon the 9th of September, 1513. The defeat of the Scottish army, resulting mainly from the fantastic ideas of chivalry entertained by James IV., and his refusal to avail himself of the natural advantages of his position, was by far the most disastrous of any recounted in the history of the northern The whole strength of the kingdom, both Lowland and Highland, was assembled, and the contest was one of the sternest and most desperate upon record. For several hours the issue seemed doubtful. On the left the Scots obtained a decided advantage; on the right they were broken and overthrown; and at last the whole weight of the battle was brought into the centre, where King James and the Earl of Surrey commanded in person. The determined valor of James, imprudent as it was, had the effect of rousing to a pitch of desperation the courage of the meanest soldiers; and the ground becoming soft and slippery from blood, they pulled off their boots and shoes, and secured a firmer foot

ing by fighting in their hose. Both parties did wonders, but none performed more than the king. He would fight not only in person, but on foot. At first he had abundance of success; but at length his battalion was surrounded, and the Scots formed themselves into a ring, and, being resolved to die nobly with their sovereign, who scorned to ask quarter, were altogether cut off. The loss of the Scots was about ten thousand The loss to Edinburgh was peculiarly great. All the magistrates and able-bodied citizens had followed their king to Flodden, whence very few of them returned. The news of the overthrow on the field of Flodden overwhelmed

men.

the inhabitants with grief and confusion. The streets were crowded with women seeking intelligence about their friends, clamoring and weeping. The city banner referred to in the poem is a standard still held in great honor by the burghers, having been presented to them by James III. in return for their loyal service in 1482. This banner, still conspicuous in the library of the Faculty of Advocates, was honorably brought back from Flodden, and could certainly never have been displayed on a more memorable field. No event in Scottish history ever took a more lasting hold on the public mind than the "woeful fight" of Flodden; and even now the songs and traditions which are current on the Border recall the memory of a contest unsullied by disgrace, though terminating in disaster and defeat.-Harper's Magazine.

Page 306.-THE FLOWERS OF THE FOREST.The "Flowers of the Forest" are the young men of the districts of Selkirkshire and Peeblesshire, anciently known as "the Forest." The song is founded by the author upon an older composition of the same name, deploring the loss of the Scotch at Flodden Field, of which all has been lost except two or three lines.Illustrated Book of Scottish Song.

Page 307.-IVRY. - Henry IV., on his accession to the French throne, was opposed by a large part of his subjects under the Duke of Mayenne, with the assistance of Spain and Savoy, and from the union of these several nations their army was called the "Army of the League." In March, 1590, he gained a decisive victory over that party at Ivry, a small town in France. Before the battle he said to his troops, "My children, if you lose sight of your colors, rally to my white plume; you will always find it in the path to honor and glory." His conduct was answerable to his promise. Nothing could resist his impetuous valor, and the Leaguers underwent a total and bloody defeat. In the midst of the rout Henry followed, crying, "Save the French!" and his clemency added a number of the enemy to his own army.

Page 809.-THE SACK OF BALTIMORE. - Baltimore is a small seaport in the barony of Carbery in South Munster. It grew up round a castle of O'Driscoll's, and was after his ruin colonized by the English. On the 20th of June, 1631, the crews of two Algerine galleys landed in the dead of the night, sacked the town, and bore off into slavery all who were not too old, or too young, or too fierce for their purpose. The pirates were steered up the intricate channel by one Hackett. a Dungarvan fisherman, whom they had taken at sea for the purpose. Two years

after, he was convicted and executed for the crime. Baltimore never recovered this. To the artist, the antiquary, and the naturalist its neighborhood is most interesting. (See The Ancient and Present State of the County and City of Cork, by Charles Smith, M. D., second edition, Dublin, 1774. Note by Thomas Osborne Davis.)

Page 311.-NASEBY.-The battle of Naseby was fought June 14, 1645, between the royal forces, commanded by Charles I., and the Parliamentary party, nicknamed "Roundheads," under Lord Fairfax. The forces on both sides were about equal, Fairfax having rather the choice of position. At first, Prince Rupert, who commanded the right wing of the royal army, made such an impetuous attack upon the left wing of the Parlismentarians that it was broken and put to flight, and Ireton, its commander, wounded and taken prisoner; but finally Cromwell, who commanded the right wing of Fairfax's army, routed the left wing of the opposing army, and came to the relief of the Parliamentary centre, commanded by Fairfax and Skippon, when the royal army was defeated, and Charles fled from the bloody field, leaving 800 killed, 4500 prisoners, besides his artillery, ammunition, and several thousand stand of arms. The battle virtually decided the war.

Page 313.-WHEN THE ASSAULT was IntendeD TO THE CITY. This sonnet, the first of those which refer to English public affairs, was written in November, 1642, and probably on Saturday, the 12th of that month. The Civil War had then begun, and Milton, already known as a vehement anti-Episcopal pamphleteer and Parliamentarian, was living, with two young nephews whom he was educating, in his house in Aldersgate street, a surburban thoroughfare just beyond one of the city gates of London. After some of the first actions of the war, including the indecisive battle of Edgehill (Oct. 23), the king's army, advancing out of the Midlands, with the king and Prince Rupert present in it, had come as near to London as Hounslow and Brentford, and was threatening a further march to crush the Londoners and the Parliament at once. They were at their nearest on Saturday, the 12th of November; and all that day and the next there was immense excitement in London in expectation of an assault-chains put up across streets, houses barred, etc. It was not till the evening of the 13th that the citizens were reassured by the retreat of the king's army, which had been checked from a closer advance by a rapid march-out of the trained bands under Essex and Skippon. Milton, we are to fancy, had shared the common alarm. His was one of the houses which, if the Cavaliers had been let loose, it would have given them particular pleasure to sack. Knowing this,

the only precaution he takes is, half in jest, and yet perhaps with some anxiety, to write a sonnet addressed to the imaginary Royalist captain, colonel, or knight who may command the Aldersgate street sacking-party. "On his dore when ye citty expected an assault" is the original heading of the sonnet in the copy of it, by an amanuensis, among the Cambridge MSS., as if the sonnet had actually been pasted or nailed up on the outside of Milton's door. This title was afterward deleted by Milton himself, and the other title substituted in his own hand; but the sonnet appeared without any title at all in the editions of 1645 and 1673.-Milton, Masson's edition.

Page 313.-ON THE LATE MASSACRE IN PIEDMONT.-This, the most powerful of Milton's sonnets, was written in 1655, and refers to the persecutions instituted, in the early part of that year, by Charles Emmanuel II., Duke of Savoy and Prince of Piedmont, against his Protestant subjects of the valleys of the Cottian Alps. This Protestant community, half French and half Italian, and known as the Waldenses or Vaudois, were believed to have kept up the tradition of a primitive Christianity from the time of the apostles. There had been various persecutions of them since the Reformation, but that of 1655 surpassed all. By an edict of the duke they were required to part with their property and leave their habitations within twenty days, or else to become Roman Catholics. On their resistance, forces were sent into their valleys, and the most dreadful atrocities followed. Many were butchered, others were taken away in chains, and hundreds of families were driven for refuge to the mountains covered with snow, to live there miserably or perish with cold and hunger. Among the Protestant nations of Europe, and especially in England, the indignation was immediate and violent. Cromwell, who was then Protector, took up the matter with his whole strength. He caused Latin letters, couched in the strongest terms, to be immediately sent, not only to the offending Duke of Savoy, but also to the chief princes and powers of Europe. These letters were drawn up by Milton, and may be read among his Letters of State. An ambassador was also sent to collect information; a Fast Day was appointed; a subscription of £40,000 was raised for the sufferers; and altogether Cromwell's remonstrances were such that, backed as they would have been, if necessary, by armed force, the cruel edict was withdrawn, and a convention made with the Vaudois, allowing them the exercise of their worship. Milton's sonnet is his private and more tremendous expression in verse of the feeling he expressed publicly, in Cromwell's name, in his Latin State Letters.-Milton, Masson's edition.

Page 313.-THE EXECUTION OF MONTROSE.James Graham, Marquis of Montrose, was born at Edinburgh in 1612. Having finished his studies in France, after his return to Scotland he served for a time in the Presbyterian army, but subsequently went over to the royalists. He was appointed by Charles I., in 1644, Marquis of Montrose and commander-in-chief of the Scottish forces. He signally defeated the Covenanters at Tippermuir in 1644, also at Inverlochy and at Kilsyth in 1645; but his army was surprised and totally defeated by General Leslie at Philiphaugh in September, 1645. Montrose soon after went to Germany, where he was received with great distinction by the Austrian emperor and made a marshal of the Empire. Having collected a small but ill-organized force, he returned to Scotland in 1650, but was soon after defeated and taken prisoner. He was executed, without a trial, at Edinburgh, in May, 1650.—Thomas's Biographical Dictionary.

Page 316.-THE BONNETS OF BONNie Dundee.— Dundee, enraged at his enemies, and still more at his friends, resolved to retire to the Highlands, and to make preparations for civil war, but with secrecy, for he had been ordered by James to make no public insurrection until assistance should be sent him from Ireland.

Whilst Dundee was in this temper, information was brought him-whether true or false is uncertain-that some of the Covenanters had associated themselves to assassinate him, in revenge for his former severities against their party. He flew to the Convention and demanded justice. The Duke of Hamilton, who wished to get rid of a troublesome adversary, treated his complaint with neglect, and, in order to sting him in the tenderest part, reflected upon that courage which could be alarmed by imaginary dangers. Dundee left the house in a rage, mounted his horse, and with a troop of fifty horsemen, who had deserted to him from his regiment in England, galloped through the city. Being asked by one of his friends, who stopped him, "Where he was going?" he waved his hat, and is reported to have answered, "Wherever the spirit of Montrose shall direct me." In passing under the walls of the Castle, he stopped, scrambled up the precipice at a place difficult and dangerous, and held a conference with the Duke of Gordon at a postern-gate, the marks of which are still to be seen, though the gate itself is built up. Hoping, in vain, to infuse the vigor of his own spirit into the duke, he pressed him to retire with him into the Highlands, raise his vassals there, who were numerous, brave, and faithful, and leave the command of the Castle to Winram, the lieutenant-governor, an officer on whom Dundee could rely. The duke

concealed his timidity under the excuse of a soldier. "A soldier," said he, "cannot in honor quit the post that is assigned him." The novelty of the sight drew numbers to the foot of the rock upon which the conference was held. These numbers every minute increased, and, in the end, were mistaken for Dundee's adherents. The Convention was then sitting; news was carried thither that Dundee was at the gates with an army, and had prevailed upon the governor of the Castle to fire upon the town. The Duke of Hamilton, whose intelligence was better, had the presence of mind, by improving the moment of agitation, to overwhelm the one party, and provoke the other, by their fears. He ordered the doors of the house to be shut, and the keys to be laid on the table before him. He cried out, "That there was danger within as well as without doors; that traitors must be held in confinement until the present danger was over; but that the friends of liberty had nothing to fear, for that thousands were ready to start up in their defence at the stamp of his foot." He ordered the drums to be beat and the trumpets to sound through the city. In an instant vast swarms of those who had been brought into town by him and Sir John Dalrymple from the western counties, and who had been hitherto hid in garrets and cellars, showed themselves in the streets; not, indeed, in the proper habiliments of war, but in arms, and with looks fierce and sullen, as if they felt disdain at their former concealment. This unexpected sight increased the noise and tumult of the town, which grew loudest in the square adjoining the house where the members were confined, and appeared still louder to those who were within, because they

were ignorant of the cause from which the tumult arose, and caught contagion from the anxious looks of each other. After some hours the doors were thrown open, and the Whig members, as they went out, were received with acclamations, and those of the opposite party with the threats and curses of a prepared populace. Terrified by the prospect of future alarms, many of the adherents of James quitted the Convention and retired to the country; most of them changed sides; only a very few of the most resolute continued their attendance.-Dalrymple's Memoirs.

Page 317.-THE BURIAL MARCH OF DUNDEE. John Graham, Viscount Dundee, was born in 1643. He served in the French army from 1668 to 1672, and next entered the Dutch service as cornet in the Prince of Orange's horse-guards, and is reported to have saved the life of the prince at the battle of Seneffe in 1674. Returning to Scotland, he took a prominent part in the persecution of the Covenanters and in the attempt to force Episcopacy on the people of that country. In 1688, on

the eve of the Revolution, he was raised to the peerage by James II. as Viscount Dundee and Lord Graham of Claverhouse. When James was driven from the throne, Dundee remained faithful to the fallen monarch. He was joined by the Jacobite Highland clans and by auxiliaries from Ireland, and raised the standard of rebellion against the government of William and Mary. After various movements in the North, he advanced upon Blair in Athol, and General Mackay, commanding the government forces, hastened to meet him.

The two armies confronted each other at the Pass of Killiecrankie, July 27, 1689. Mackay's force was about four thousand men; Dundee's, twenty-five hundred foot, with one troop of horse. A few minutes decided the contest. After both armies had exchanged fire, the Highlanders rushed on with their swords, and the enemy instantly scattered and gave way. Mackay lost by death and capture two thousand five hundred men; the victors, nine hundred. Dundee fell by a musketshot while waving on one of his battalions to advance. He was carried off the field to Urrard House, or Blair Castle, and there expired.

Page 321.-FONTENOY.-The battle of Fontenoy was fought between the French, under Marshal Saxe, and the English, Dutch, and Austrians, under the Duke of Cumberland, May 11, 1745. The fortunes of war were at first in favor of the French, who were posted on a hill behind Fontenoy, when Cumberland, heading a column of fourteen thousand British and Hanoverian infantry, with fixed bayonets, plunged down the ravine separating the two armies, and gained the hill, carrying everything before him. The day was apparently lost to the French, and Marshal Saxe in vain urged the king to fly. At this critical moment the Irish brigade charged on the English flank, and changed the apparent defeat into a decisive victory.

Page 323.-LOCHIEL'S WARNING.-Lochiel, the chief of the warlike clan of the Camerons, and descended from ancestors distinguished in their narrow sphere for great personal prowess, was a man worthy of a better cause and fate than that in which he embarked--the enterprise of the Stuarts in 1745. His memory is still fondly cherished among the Highlanders by the appellation of the "gentle Lochiel," for he was famed for his social virtues as much as his martial and magnanimous (though mistaken) loyalty. His influence was so important among the Highland chiefs, that it depended on his joining with his clan whether the standard of Charles should be raised or not in 1745. Lochiel was himself too wise a man to be blind to the consequences of so hopeless an enterprise, but his sensibility to the point of honor overruled his wisdom. Lochiel, with many arguments, but in