Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

SLAVERY.

"I would not have a slave to till my ground,
To carry me, to fan me while I sleep,

And tremble when I wake, for all the wealth
That sinews1 bought and sold have ever earn'd.
No! I would rather be myself the slave,
And wear the bonds, than fasten on him.

We have no slaves at home-then why abroad?
And they themselves, once ferried 2 o'er the waves
That part us, are emancipate 3 and loosed.

Slaves cannot breathe in England; if their lungs
Receive our air, that moment they are free;

They touch our country, and their shackles 4 fall."

COWPER.

(1) Sinews-muscles.-(2) Ferried-crossed over by means of a vessel.-(3) Emancipate-free, no longer slaves.-(4) Shackleschains, bonds.

It is a right glorious fact that 'Slaves cannot breathe in England.' We have no slaves to tarnish the glory of merry England! We live in a land where all are free!-free to act, free to live, free to think, with enlightened justice, and pure laws. Let us be thankful to the great Jehovah that our land is so signally blessed! but alas! across the Atlantic, in some parts of America, slavery exists,-men are bought and sold like cattle, and the poor African there endures bitter and horrible oppression. To those who would like to learn what slavery means, let them read a remarkable book, entitled 'Uncle Tom's Cabin.'

BIRDS OF PASSAGE.

Birds, joyous birds of the wandering wing!
Whence is it ye come with the flowers of spring?
"We come from the shores of the green old Nile,1
From the land where the roses of Sharon smile,
From the palms that wave through the Indian sky,
From the myrrh-trees of glowing Araby.

"We have swept o'er cities in song renown'd,— Silent they lie with the deserts around!

We have cross'd proud rivers, whose tide hath roll'd,
All dark with the warrior-blood of old;

And each worn wing hath regain'd its home,
Under peasants' roof-tree or monarch's dome."

3

And what have ye found in the monarch's dome, 2
Since last ye traversed the blue sea's foam?
"We have found a change, we have found a pall, 3
And a gloom o'er-shadowing the banquet hall,
And a mark on the floor as of life-drops spilt,-
Nought looks the same, save the nest we built!"

(1) Nile-This is a celebrated river, as the reader no doubt will recollect, whose yearly overflowing renders Egypt an extremely fertile country. The Hippopotamus frequents the banks of this river, and a specimen (the first live one ever brought to this country) came from thence, which is now exhibited in the Zoological Gardens, Regent's Park. The length of the course of the Nile is upwards of 2000 miles.

(2) Dome--building, a royal residence.-(3) Pall-a covering for the dead.

Oh! joyous birds, it hath still been so;

Through the halls of kings doth the tempest go!—

But the huts of the hamlet lie still and deep,
And the hills o'er their quiet a vigil keep,—
Say what have ye found in the peasant's cot,
Since last ye parted from that sweet spot?

"A change we have found there-and many a change! Faces, and footsteps, and all things strange!

Gone are the heads of the silvery hair,

And the young that were have a brow of care,

And the place is hush'd 4 where the children played― Nought (5) looks the same save the nest we made."

Sad is your tale of the beautiful earth,

Birds that o'ersweep it,

in

power

and mirth!

Yet, through the wastes of the trackless air,
Ye have a guide and shall we despair?
Ye over desert and deep have passed,-
So may we reach our bright home at last!

MRS. HEMANS.

(4) Hushed-silent, noiseless.-(5) Nought-nothing.

Birds of Passage are those birds which migrate, that is, which leave our country at a certain season of the year for a warmer or a colder clime. The Swallow, Cuckoo, Nightingale, Redstart, Blackcap and many other birds leave us ere the winter commences, and guided by the instinct given them by their Creator, seek some other land where nature will smile upon them with her summer beauty ;;-on the return of spring, say about April, they will visit old England again, and delight us with their pleasant music.

Again, there are birds which come to us in the winter time, leaving us again on the approach of spring, such as the Fieldfare, Redwing, Snipe, Wild-duck, Widgeon and many others which delight in the cold, frost and snow; and not like the former birds in sunny weather, green foliage, and blue skies.

E

THE BURIAL OF SIR JOHN MOORE.

Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note,
As his corse (1) to the ramparts (2) we hurried;
Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot,
O'er the grave where our hero we buried.

We buried him darkly, at dead of night,
The sods (3) with our bayonets turning,
By the struggling moonbeams misty light,
And the lantern dimly burning.

No useless coffin enclosed his breast,

Not in sheet, nor in shroud (4) we wound him;
But he lay like a warrior taking his rest,

With his martial (5) cloak around him.

Few and short were the prayers we said,

And we spoke not a word of sorrow;

But we steadfastly gazed on the face of the dead,
And we bitterly thought of the morrow.

We thought, as we hollowed his narrow bed,

And smoothed down his lonely pillow,

The foe and the stranger would tread o'er his head,

And we far away on the billow.

Lightly they'll talk of the spirit that's gone,

And o'er his cold ashes upbraid him;

But little he'll reck, (6) if they let him sleep on,
In the grave where a Briton has laid him

(1) Corse-corpse.-(2) Ramparts-the walls which surround fortified places.-(3) Sods-turfs, pieces of earth.-(4) Shrouddress of the dead.-(5) Martial-soldierly.-(6) Reck-care.—

But half of our heavy task was done,

When the clock struck the hour for retiring;

And we heard the distant and random (7)

gun,

That the foe (8) was sullenly firing.

Slowly and sadly we laid him down,

From the field of his fame fresh and
We carved not a line, and we raised not a stone,
But we left him alone in his glory.

gory

(9)

WOLFE.

(7) Random-that by chance, without aim.-(8) Foe-enemy. (9) Gory-bloody.

Sir John Moore, the subject of these universally admired verses, was killed at the battle of Corunna, an engagement between the French and English, when the losses of the latter were very considerable, consisting of 5000 horses, and 5 or 6000 men, besides its magazines, &c. The Historian says 'that however calamitous this expedition proved, yet it was of advantage to the cause it was intended to support, as it drew Buonaparte from the south, which at that time lay entirely open to his enterprises, and afforded time to the Spaniards to recover in some degree from the terrors of their enemy.' The body of the brave Sir John Moore was hastily interred on the ramparts of Corunna, where a monument was afterwards raised to his memory.

THE PATRIOT.

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 burn'd,
As home his footsteps he hath turn'd,
From wandering on a foreign strand (1) ?
If such there breathe, go mark him well,
For him-no Minstrel-raptures swell!

(1) Strand-shore.

« AnteriorContinuar »