144

MACLAINE'S CHILD.

forever. It is a holy mission; holy must be your motives and your acts if you would fulfil it. Act as if your soul's salvation hung on each deed; and it will, for we stand already in the shadow of eternity.

For us is the contest; not for us, perhaps, the triumph. Many a noble heart will lie cold; many a throbbing pulse will be stilled before the cry of victory will arise. It is a solemn thought, that now is the hour of destiny, when the fetters of seven centuries may at last be broken, and by you, men of this generation, by you, men of Ireland.

68. MACLAINE'S CHILD.

"MACLAINE! you've scourged me like a

hound;

You should have struck me to the ground;
You should have played a chieftain's part;
You should have stabbed me to the heart.

"You should have crushed me into death;—
But here I swear with living breath,
That for this wrong which you have done,
I'll wreak my vengeance on your son,-

"On him, and you, and all your race!"
He said, and bounding from his place,
He seized the child with sudden hold -
A smiling infant, three years old

And, starting like a hunted stag,
He scaled the rock, he clomb the crag,

MACLAINE'S CHILD.

And reached, o'er many a wide abyss,
The beetling seaward precipice.

And, leaning o'er its topmost ledge,
He held the infant o'er the edge :
"In vain the wrath, thy sorrow vain;
No hand shall save it, proud Maclaine !”

With flashing eye and burning brow,
The mother followed, heedless how,
O'er crags with mosses overgrown,
And stair-like juts of slippery stone.

But midway up the rugged steep,
She found a chasm she could not leap,
And, kneeling on its brink, she raised
Her supplicating hands, and gazed.

"O, spare my child, my joy, my pride!

O, give me back my child!" she cried:

66

My child! my child!" with sobs and tears,
She shrieked upon his callous ears.

Come, Evan," said the trembling chief, -
Ilis bosom wrung with pride and grief,
"Restore the boy, give back my son,
And I'll forgive the wrong you've done."

"I scorn forgiveness, haughty man!
You've injured me before the clan;
And nought but blood shall wipe away
The shame I have endured to-day."

And, as he spoke, he raised the child,
To dash it 'mid the breakers wild,

10

145

146

MACLAINE'S CHILD.

But, at the mother's piercing cry,
Drew back a step, and made reply : —

"Fair lady, if your lord will strip,
And let a clansman wield the whip,
Till skin shall flay, and blood shall run,
I'll give you back your little son."

The lady's cheek grew pale with ire,
The chieftain's eyes flashed sudden fire;
He drew a pistol from his breast,
Took aim,

then dropped it, sore distressed.

"I might have slain my babe instead.
Come, Evan, come," the father said,
And through his heart a tremor ran ;
"We'll fight our quarrel man to man."

"Wrong unavenged I've never borne,"
Said Evan, speaking loud in scorn;
"You've heard my answer, proud Maclaine:
I will not fight you, think again."

The lady stood in mute despair,

With freezing blood and stiffening hair;
She moved no limb, she spoke no word;
She could but look upon her lord.

He saw the quivering of her eye,
Pale lips and speechless agony,-
And, doing battle with his pride,

"Give back the boy, — I yield," he cried.

A storm of passions shook.his mind-
Anger, and shame, and love combined;

ECLIPSE OF THE MOON.

But love prevailed, and bending low,
He bared his shoulders to the blow.

"I smite you," said the clansman true;
"Forgive me, chief, the deed I do!
For by yon Heaven that hears me speak,
My dirk in Evan's heart shall reek!"

But Evan's face beamed hate and joy;
Close to his breast he hugged the boy :
"Revenge is just, revenge is sweet,
And mine, Lochbuy, shall be complete."

Ere hand could stir, with sudden shock,
He threw the infant o'er the rock,
Then followed with a desperate leap,
Down fifty fathoms to the deep.

They found their bodies in the tide;
And never till the day she died
Was that sad mother known to smile
The Niobe of Mulla's isle.

They dragged false Evan from the sea,
And hanged him on a gallows tree;
And ravens fattened on his brain,
To sate the vengeance of Maclaine.

141

69. ECLIPSE OF THE MOON.

N the death of the Emperor Augustus Cæsar, the

ON

legions in Pannonia, under command of Blæsus,

seized the opportunity to assert their claims, and de

148

ECLIPSE OF THE MOON.

mand reparation for their wrongs. The insurrectionary feeling spread everywhere; and the Roman camp became the scene of the wildest confusion. Νο power of entreaty, no promise of alleviation, no threat of vengeance, produced the slightest effect to allay the storm.

Such was the condition of the Roman legions, when the shades of evening slowly settled upon the turbulent crowd. Assembled in wild and fierce groups, the soldiers listened to the incendiary harangues of their leaders, till, excited to frenzy, they broke furiously away in search of the objects of their vengeance; when, lo! a prodigy appears in the heavens the moon in a clear sky is growing pale; her brightness is becoming dim; a dark and lurid veil. is slowly covering her silver splendor.

A sudden chill of horror struck the legionaries dumb and motionless. They beheld in the heavens an emblem of their own sufferings, of their sad and miserable fate, when, to add to their terror, the sky was suddenly overcast; heavy masses of dark clouds swept across the heavens; the thunder pealed, and a deluge of driving rain poured in upon the camp. Stupefied with amazement, these iron men were subdued; the desecrated eagles were again enthroned, and order reigned in the Roman camp.

There is another feature in this occurrence, which is of especial interest. The historian records the exact date of this most remarkable event. It occurred in the year of the building of Rome 767, and in the month of September. But who shall reveal the exact date of that great Roman era, anno urbis condita"? Two thousand five hundred years, at