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hand. We looked back upon her as she left us." After a pause,- "She is an angel!" sighed Charles ;-" She is an heiress," observed Jonathan. She has ten thousand perfections! cried Rhyme;" She has ten thousand pounds," said Reason.

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We left them the next morning, and spent some days in speculations on the causes which enabled such union of affections to exist with such diversities of taste. For ourselves, we must confess, that while Reason has secured our esteem, Rhyme has run away with our hearts; we have sometimes thought with Jonathan, but we have always felt with Charles.

P. C.

THE EVE OF BATTLE.

"It is not yet near day. Come, go with me

Under our tents. I'll play the eaves-dropper."-SHAKSPEARE.

THE night comes on, and o'er the field
The moon shines bright on helm and shield;
But there are many on that plain,
That shall not see her light again :

She looks serene on countless bands
Of mailed breasts and steel-bound hands;
And shows a thousand faces there,
Of courage high, and dark despair;
All mingled as the legions lie,
Wrapt in their dreams of Victory.

A lowering sound, of doubt and fear,
Breaks sudden on the startled ear,

And hands are clench'd, and cheeks are pale,
And from bright blade and ringing mail

A thousand hands, with busy toil,

Clean off each ancient stain or soil;
Or spots of blood, where truth may read
For every drop a guilty deed.

Survey the crowds, who there await,
In various mood, the shock of fate;

Who burn to meet, or strive to shun,
The dangers of to-morrow's sun.
Look on the husband's anxious tears,
The hero's hopes, the coward's fears,
The vices that e'en here are found,
The follies that are hovering round;
And learn, that (treat it as you will)
Our life must be a mockery still.
Alas! the same caprices reign,
In courtly hall, or tented plain;
And the same follies are reveal'd,
In ball-room, and in battle-field.

Turn to yon open tent, and see
Where, drunk with youth and Burgundy,
Reclines, his midnight revel o'er,
The beau of battle, Theodore.-
Before him, on his desk, he lays
The billet-doux of other days;
And while he reads, his fancy lingers
On those white hands and witching fingers,
That traced the darling signatures

The "yours till death" and "truly yours
And, as by turns they meet his eye,

He looks, and laughs, and throws them by,
Until perchance some magic name
Lights up a spark of former flame ;
And then he ponders, in his trance,
On Mary's love-inspiring glance,
On Chloe's eye of glittering fire,
And Laura's look of fond desire.
Poor Theodore! if valiant breast,
And open heart, and song, and jest,
And laughing lip, and auburn hair,
And vow sent up by lady fair,

:"

Can save a youthful warrior's life,-
Thou fall'st not in to-morrow's strife.

Look yonder on the dewy sward
Tom Wittol lies a brother bard;
He lies, and ponders on the stars,
On virtue, genius, and the wars ;
On dark ravines, and woody dells,
On mirth and muses, shot and shells;
On black mustachios, and White Surrey,
On rhyme and sabres-death and Murray;
Until at last his fancy glows,

As if it felt to-morrow's blows;
Anticipation fires his brain,

With fights unfought, unslaughtered slain;
And on the fray that is to be,
Comes forth a Dirge or Elegy:-

And if he meets no heavier harm
To-morrow from a foeman's arm,

Than crack'd cuirass, or broken head,
He'll hasten from his fever's bed,

And, just broke loose from salve and lint,
Rush, like a hero, into print;

Heading his light and harmless prattle-
"Lines written on a field of battle."
Thou favoured bard-go boldly on,-
The Muse shall guard her darling son;
And when the musquet's steady aim
Is levell❜d at the pet of fame,

The Muse shall check the impious crime,
And shield thee with a ream of rhyme;
But if 'tis doom'd, and fall thou must,
Since bards, like other men, are dust,
Upon the tomb where thou shalt sleep
Phoebus and Mars alike shall weep;

And he that lov'd, but could not save,
Shall write "Hic jacet " o'er thy grave.

What wight is that, whose distant nose
Gives token loud of deep repose?
What! honest Harry on the ground!
I'faith thy sleep is wondrous sound,
For one who looks, upon his waking,
To sleep" the sleep that knows not breaking."
But rest thee, rest! thou merriest soul
That ever lov'd the circling bowl;
I look upon his empty cup,

And sudden tears uncall'd spring up;
Perchance, in this abode of pother,
Kind Harry may not drain another,
But still our Comrades at the Bell
Of Harry's prowess long shall tell;
And dignify with well-earn'd praise
The revelry of other days.
And then the merry tale will run
Of many a wager lost and won,
On many a jest, and many a song,
And many a peal of laughter long,
That from our jovial circle broke
At Harry's toast, or Harry's joke,
Again, at Fancy's touch restor❜d,
Our old sirloin shall grace the board;
Again at Fancy's touch shall flow
The tap we drain'd an age ago.
And thou, the soul of fun, the life
Of noisy mirth and playful strife,
May'st sleep in honour's worm-worn bed
The dreamless slumber of the dead.
But oft shall one sad heart at least

Think on the smile, that never ceas'd

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Its catching influence, till the earth
Clos'd o'er the lips that gave it birth.
I'll pour upon thy tranquil rest
The hallow'd bowl of Meux's best;
And recollect, with smile and sigh,
Thy "beer with E, and bier with I."*

Dazzle mine eyes? or do I see †
Two glorious Suns of Chancery?
The pride of Law appears the first,
And next, the pride of Moulsey Hurst.
Faithless and feeless, from the bar
Tim Quill is come to practise war:
Without a rival in the ring,

Brown Harry "peels" for Church and King.
Thus ever to your country's fights
Together go, ye kindred knights!

Congenial arts ye aye pursued;

"Daylight" ye studied to exclude;
And both of old were known to Cribb,
And both were very apt to fib.
Together go; no foe shall stand
The vengeance of our country's brand,
When on his ranks together spring
Cross-buttocks and Cross-questioning.

Sir Jacob arming! what despair
Has snatch'd him from his elbow-chair?
And hurried from his good old wine
The bachelor of fifty-nine?

* Suum cuique :

"So that day I still hail with a smile and a sigh,

For his beer with an E, and his bier with an I."-CANNING.

+ "Edw. Dazzle mine eyes? or do I see three suns!

Rich. Three glorious suns, each one a perfect sun."-SHAKSPEARE.

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