While instantaneous as his fall,
Rout, ruin, panic, scattered all:
An earthquake could not overthrow
A city with a surer blow.
Thus Switzerland again was free;
Thus death made way for liberty!

"LOOK NOT UPON THE WINE."

Look not upon the wine when it

Is red within the cup!

Stay not for pleasure when she fills

Her tempting beaker up!

[Montgomery.

(v)

Though clear its depths, and rich its glow,

A spell of madness lurks below.

They say 'tis pleasant on the lip,
And merry on the brain;

They say it stirs the sluggish blood,
And dulls the tooth of pain.
Ay,—but within its glowing deeps
A stinging serpent, unseen, sleeps.

Its rosy lights will turn to fire,
Its coolness change to thirst;
And, by its mirth, within the brain
A sleepless worm is nursed.
There's not a bubble at the brim
That does not carry food for him.

Then dash the brimming cup aside,
And spill its purple wine;
Take not its madness to thy lip,-
Let not its curse be thine.

'Tis red and rich,-but grief and woe
Are hid those rosy depths below.

[Willis.

THE VENGEANCE OF MUDARA.

To the chase goes Rodrigo, with hound and with hawk; But what game he desires is revealed in his talk: "O! in vain have I slaughtered the Infants of Lara ; There's an heir in his hall,-there's the bastard Mudara,— There's the son of the renegade,-spawn of Mahoun : If I meet with Mudara, my spear brings him down."

While Rodrigo rides on in the heat of his wrath, A stripling, armed cap-à-pie, crosses his path: "Good morrow, young esquire.” "Good morrow, knight."

"Will you

66

old

ride with our party, and share our delight?". Speak your name, courteous stranger," the stripling replied; Speak your name and your lineage, ere with you I ride."

"My name is Rodrigo," thus answered the knight;
"Of the line of old Lara, though barred from my right;
For the kinsman of Salas proclaims for the heir
Of our ancestor's castles and forestries fair,
A bastard, a renegade's offspring,—Mudara,—
Whom I'll send, if I can, to the Infants of Lara.”-
"I behold thee, disgrace to thy lineage!—with joy
I behold thee, thou murderer!" answered the boy :
"The bastard you curse, you behold him in me;

But his brothers' avenger that bastard shall be.
Draw! for I am the renegade's offspring, Mudara ;
We shall see who inherits the life-blood of Lara!".

"I am armed for the forest chase,-not for the fight;

Let me go for my shield and my sword," cries the knight.

Now the mercy you dealt to my brothers of old,

Be the hope of that mercy the comfort you hold:
Die, foeman to Sancha,--die, traitor to Lara!”-
As he spake, there was blood on the spear of Mudara.

[Lockhart,

HOARSE wint'ry blasts a solemn requiem sung
To the departed day,
Upon whose bier

The velvet pall of midnight had been flung,

And nature mourned through one wide hemisphere.
Silence and darkness held their cheerless sway,
Save in the haunts of riotous excess;

And half the world in dreamy slumbers lay,
Lost in the maze of sweet forgetfulness.
When lo! upon the startled ear,

There broke a sound so dread and drear,-
As, like a sudden peal of thunder,
Burst the bands of sleep asunder,

And filled a thousand throbbing hearts with fear.

Hark! the faithful watchman's cry
Speaks a conflagration nigh!-

See! yon glare upon the sky,
Confirms the fearful tale.

The deep-mouthed bells, with rapid tone,
Combine to make the tidings known;
Affrighted silence now has flown,

And sounds of terror fright the chilly gale!

At the first note of this discordant din,
The gallant fireman from his slumber starts;
Reckless of toil and danger, if he win
The tributary meed of grateful hearts.
From pavement rough, or frozen ground,
His engine's rattling wheels resound,
And soon before his eyes

The lurid flames, with horrid glare,
Mingled with murky vapors rise,

In wreathy folds upon the air,

And vail the frowning skies!

Sudden a shriek assails his heart,-
A female shriek, so piercing wild,
As makes his very life-blood start:-
"My child! Almighty God, my child!”
He hears,

And 'gainst the tottering wall,

The ponderous ladder rears;

While blazing fragments round him fall,
And crackling sounds assail his ears.

His sinewy arm, with one rude crash,
Hurls to the earth the opposing sash;

And heedless of the startling din,-
Though smoky volumes round him roll,
The mother's shriek has pierced his soul,
See! see! he plunges in !

The admiring crowd, with hopes and fears,
In breathless expectation stands,

When lo! the daring youth appears,

Hailed by a burst of warm, ecstatic cheers,
Bearing the child triumphant in his hands!

[Anonymous.

BATTLE OF WATERLOO.

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;
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 knell!

Did ye

not hear it?—No; 't was 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 fleet.-
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!"

THE POUNDER.

[Byron.

THE Christians have beleaguered the famous walls of Xeres,
Among them are Don Alvar and Don Diego Perez,
And many other gentlemen, who, day succeeding day,
Give challenge to the Saracen and all his chivalry.