OSCAR OF ALVA.*

A TALE.

How sweetly shines through azure skies
The lamp of heaven on Lora's shore;
Where Alva's hoary turrets rise,

And hear the din of arms no more!
But often has yon rolling moon

On Alva's casques of silver play'd;
And view'd at midnight's silent noon,
Her chiefs in gleaming mail array'd:
And on the crimson'd rocks beneath,

Which scowl o'er ocean's sullen flow,
Pale in the scatter'd ranks of death,

She saw the gasping warrior low;
While many an eye which ne'er again
Could mark the rising orb of day,
Turn'd feebly from the gory plain,
Beheld in death her fading ray.
Once to those eyes the lamp of Love,
They blest her dear propitious light;
But now she glimmer'd from above,
A sad, funereal torch of night.
Faded is Alva's noble,race,

And grey her towers are seen afar;
No more her heroes urge the chase,
Or roll the crimson tide of war.
But who was last of Alva's clan?

Why grows the moss on Alva's stone?
Her towers resound no steps of man,
They echo to the gale alone.

And when that gale is fierce and high,
A sound is heard in yonder hall;
It rises hoarsely through the sky,

And vibrates o'er the mouldering wall.
Yes, when the eddying tempest sighs,
It shakes the shield of Oscar brave;
But there no more his banners rise,

No more his plumes of sable wave.
Fair shone the sun on Oscar's birth,

When Angus hail'd his eldest born; The vassals round their chieftain's hearth Crowd to applaud the happy morn. They feast upon the mountain deer,

The pibroch raised its piercing note; To gladden more their highland cheer,

The strains in martial numbers float: And they who heard the war-notes wild, Hoped that one day the pibroch's strain Should play before the hero's child

While he should lead the tartan train. Another year is quickly past,

And Angus hails another son;

desperation, after having attentively surveyed it through her glass, observed to her party, that there was a great deal of indecorum in that picture. Madame S. shrewdly whispered in my ear" that the indecorum was in the remark."'

The catastrophe of this tale was suggested by the story of 'Jeronyme and Lorenzo,' in the first volume of Schiller's Armenian; or, The Ghost-Seer. It also bears some resemblance to a scene in the third act of Macbeth,

His natal day is like the last,

Nor soon the jocund feast was done. Taught by their sire to bend the bow, On Alva's dusky hills of wind, The boys in childhood chased the roe, And left their hounds in speed behind. But ere their years of youth are o'er, They mingle in the ranks of war; They lightly wheel the bright claymore, And send the whistling arrow far. Dark was the flow of Oscar's hair,

Wildly it stream'd along the gale; But Allan's locks were bright and fair, And pensive seem'd his cheek, and pale. But Oscar own'd a hero's soul,

His dark eye shone through beams of truth; Allan had early learn'd control,

And smooth his words had been from youth. Both, both were brave; the Saxon spear Was shiver'd oft beneath their steel; And Oscar's bosom scorn'd to fear,

But Oscar's bosom knew to feel; While Allan's soul belied his form,

Unworthy with such charms to dwell:
Keen as the lightning of the storm,

On foes his deadly vengeance fell.
From high Southannon's distant tower
Arrived a young and noble dame;
With Kenneth's lands to form her dower,
Glenalvon's blue-eyed daughter came;
And Oscar claim'd the beauteous bride,
And Angus on his Oscar smiled;
It soothed the father's feudal pride
Thus to obtain Glenalvon's child.
Hark to the pibroch's pleasing note!
Hark to the swelling nuptial song!
In joyous strains the voices float,

And still the choral peal prolong.
See how the heroes' blood-red plumes
, Assembled wave in Alva's hall!
Each youth his varied plaid assumes,
Attending on their chieftain's call.
It is not war their aid demands,

The pibroch plays the song of peace; To Oscar's nuptials throng the bands, Nor yet the sounds of pleasure cease. But where is Oscar? sure 'tis late:

Is this a bridegroom's ardent flame?
While thronging guests and ladies wait,
Nor Oscar nor his brother came.

At length young Allan join'd the bride;
'Why comes not Oscar?' Angus said:
'Is he not here?' the youth replied;

'With me he roved not o'er the glade.
'Perchance, forgetful of the day,
'Tis his to chase the bounding roe;
Or ocean's waves prolong his stay:
Yet Oscar's bark is seldom slow.'

'Oh, no!' the anguish'd sire rejoin'd,
'Nor chase nor wave my boy delay;
Would he to Mora seem unkind?

Would aught to her impede his way?
'Oh, search, ye chiefs! oh, search around!
Allan, with these through Alva fly;
Till Oscar, till my son is found,

Haste, haste, nor dare attempt reply.' All is confusion-through the vale

The name of Oscar hoarsely rings; It rises on the murmuring gale,

Till night expands her dusky wings; It breaks the stillness of the night,

But echoes through her shades in vain ; It sounds through morning's misty light, But Oscar comes not o'er the plain. Three days, three sleepless nights, the Chief For Oscar search'd each mountain cave! Then hope is lost; in boundless grief,

His locks in grey torn ringlets wave.
'Oscar, my son !-thou God of heaven
Restore the prop of sinking age!
Or if that hope no more is given,
Yield his assassin to my rage.
'Yes, on some desert rocky shore

My Oscar's whiten'd bones must lie;
Then grant, thou God! I ask no more,
With him his frantic sire may die!
'Yet he may live-away, despair!

Be calm, my soul! he yet may live;
T' arraign my fate, my voice forbear!
O God! my impious prayer forgive.
'What, if he live for me no more,
I sink forgotten in the dust,
The hope of Alva's age is o'er;

Alas! can pangs like these be just?'
Thus did the hapless parent mourn,
Till Time, which soothes severest woe,
Had bade serenity return,

And made the tear-drop cease to flow.
For still some latent hope survived

That Oscar might once more appear:
His hope now droop'd and now revived,
Till Time had told a tedious year.
Days roll'd along; the orb of light
Again had run his destined race;
No Oscar bless'd his father's sight,
And sorrow left a fainter trace.
For youthful Allan still remain'd,

And now his father's only joy:
And Mora's heart was quickly gain'd,
For beauty crown'd the fair-hair'd boy.
She thought that Oscar low was laid,

And Allan's face was wondrous fair:
If Oscar lived, some other maid

Had claim'd his faithless bosom's care.
And Angus said, if one year more

In fruitless hope was pass'd away,
His fondest scruples should be o'er,
And he would name their nuptial day.

Slow roll'd the moons, but blest at last
Arrived the dearly destined morn;
The year of anxious trembling past,
What smiles the lovers' cheeks adorn!
Hark to the pibroch's pleasing note!
Hark to the swelling nuptial song!
In joyous strains the voices float,
And still the choral peal prolong.
Again the clan, in festive crowd,
Throng through the gate of Alva's hall;
The sounds of mirth re-echo loud,
And all their former joy recall.
But who is he, whose darken'd brow
Glooms in the midst of general mirth?
Before his eyes' far fiercer glow

The blue flames curdle o'er the hearth.
Dark is the robe which wraps his form,
And tall his plume of gory red;
His voice is like the rising storm,

But light and trackless is his tread.
'Tis noon of night, the pledge goes round,
The bridegroom's health is deeply quaff'd;
With shouts the vaulted roofs resound,

And all combine to hail the draught. Sudden the stranger-chief arose,

And all the clamorous crowd are hush'd; And Angus' cheek with wonder glows,

And Mora's tender bosom blush'd. 'Old man!' he cried, this pledge is done; Thou saw'st 'twas duly drank by me : It hail'd the nuptials of thy son: Now will I claim a pledge from thee. 'While all around is mirth and joy,

To bless thy Allan's happy lot,
Say, hadst thou ne'er another boy?
Say, why should Oscar be forgot?'
'Alas!' the hapless sire replied,

The big tear starting as he spoke,
'When Oscar left my hall, or died,
This aged heart was almost broke.
Thrice has the earth revolved her course
Since Oscar's form has bless'd my sight;
And Allan is my last resource,

Since martial Oscar's death or flight.'
'Tis well,' replied the stranger stern,
And fiercely flash'd his rolling eye;
'Thy Oscar's fate I fain would learn:
Perhaps the hero did not die.

'Perchance, if those whom most he loved
Would call, thy Oscar might return;
Perchance the chief has only roved;
For him thy beltane yet may burn.*

Fill high the bowl the table round,
We will not claim the pledge by stealth;
With wine let every cup be crown'd;
Pledge me departed Oscar's health.'

Beltane Tree, a Highland festival on the first of May, held near fires lighted for the occasion.

With all my soul,' old Angus said, And fill'd his goblet to the brim: 'Here's to my boy! alive or dead,

I ne'er shall find a son like him.'

'Bravely, old man, this health has sped;
But why does Allan trembling stand?
Come, drink remembrance of the dead,
And raise thy cup with firmer hand.'
The crimson glow of Allan's face

Was turn'd at once to ghastly hue:
The drops of death each other chase
Adown in agonizing dew.

Thrice did he raise the goblet high,
And thrice his lips refused to taste;
For thrice he caught the stranger's eye
On his with deadly fury placed.
'And is it thus a brother hails

A brother's fond remembrance here;
If thus affection's strength prevails,

What might we not expect from fear?' Roused by the sneer, he raised the bowl, 'Would Oscar now could share our mirth!' Internal fear appall'd his soul;

He said, and dash'd the cup to earth. ''Tis he; I hear my murderer's voice!' Loud shrieks a darkly gleaming form; 'A murderer's voice!' the roof replies, And deeply swells the bursting storm. The tapers wink, the chieftains shrink,

The stranger's gone-amidst the crew A form was seen in tartan green,

And tall the shade terrific grew.

His waist was bound with a broad belt round,
His plume of sable stream'd on high; [there,
But his breast was bare, with the red wounds
And fix'd was the glare of his glassy eye.

And thrice he smiled, with his eye so wild,
On Angus bending low the knee;

And thrice he frown'd on a chief on the ground,
Whom shivering crowds with horror see.
The bolts loud roll from pole to pole,
The thunders through the welkin ring;
And the gleaming form, through the mist of the

storm,

Was borne on high by the whirlwind's wing.
Cold was the feast, the revel ceased,
Who lies upon the stony floor?
Oblivion press'd old Angus' breast,
At length his life-pulse throbs once more.
'Away! away! let the leech essay
To pour the light on Allan's eyes :'
His sand is done-his race is run;
Oh! never more shall Allan rise!
But Oscar's breast is cold as clay,
His locks are lifted by the gale:
And Allan's barbed arrow lay

With him in dark Glentanar's vale.

And whence the dreadful stranger came,
Or who, no mortal wight can tell;
But no one doubts the form of flame,
For Alva's sons knew Oscar well.
Ambition nerved young Allan's hand,
Exulting demons wing'd his dart;
While Envy waved her burning brand,
And pour'd her venom round his heart.
Swift is the shaft from Allan's bow;
Whose streaming life-blood stains his side
Dark Oscar's sable crest is low,

The dart has drunk his vital tide.
And Mera's eve could Allan move,
She bade his wounded pride rebel :
Alas! that eyes which beam'd with love
Should urge the soul to deeds of hell.
Lo! seest thou not a lonely tomb

Which rises o'er a warrior dead?
It glimmers through the twilight gloom;
Oh! that is Allan's nuptial bed.

Far, distant far, the noble grave

Which held his clan's great ashes stood; And o'er his corse no banners wave,

For they were stain'd with kindred blood. What minstrel grey, what hoary bard, Shall Allan's deeds on harp-strings raise? The song is glory's chief reward,

But who can strike a murderer's praise? Unstrung, untouch'd the harp must stand, No minstrel dare the theme awake; Guilt would benumb his palsied hand, His harp in shuddering chords would break. No lvre of fame, no hailow'd verse, Shall sound his glories high in air: A dying father's bitter curse,

A brother's death-groan echoes there.

Iulus then! By all the powers above!
By those Penates who my country love!
By hoary Vesta's sacred fane, I swear,
My hopes are all in you, ye generous pair!
Restore my father to my grateful sight,
And all my sorrows yield to one delight.
Nisus! two silver goblets are thine own,
Saved from Arisba's stately domes o'erthrown!
My sire secured them on that fatal day,
Nor left such bowls an Argive robber's prey:
Two massy tripods, also, shall be thine;
Two talents polish'd from the glittering mine;
An ancient cup, which Tyrian Dido gave,
While yet our vessels press'd the Punic wave:
But when the hostile chiefs at length bow down,
When great Æneas wears Hesperia's crown,
The casque, the buckler, and the fiery steed
Which Turnus guides with more than mortal
speed,

Are thine? no envious lot shall then be cast,
I pledge my word, irrevocably past: [dames,
Nay more, twelve slaves, and twice six captive
To soothe thy softer hours with amorous flames,
And all the realms which now the Latins sway
The labours of to-night shall well repay.
But thou, my generous youth, whose tender
years

Are near my own, whose worth my heart re

veres,

Henceforth affection, sweetly thus begun, Shall join our bosoms and our souls in one; Without thy aid, no glory shall be mine; Without thy dear advice, no great design; Alike through life esteem'd, thou godlike boy, In war my bulwark, and in peace my joy.'

To him Euryalus: No day shall shame The rising glories which from this I claim. Fortune may favour, or the skies may frown, But valour, spite of fate, obtains renown. Yet, ere from hence our eager steps depart, One boon I beg, the nearest to my heart: My mother, sprung from Priam's royal line, Like thine ennobled, hardly less divine, Nor Troy, nor king Acestes' realms restrain Her feeble age from dangers of the main ; Alone she came, all selfish fears above, A bright example of maternal love. Unknown the secret enterprise I brave, Lest grief should bend my parent to the grave; From this alone no fond adieus I seek, No fainting mother's lips have press'd my cheek; By gloomy night and thy right hand I vow Her parting tears would shake my purpose now Do thou, my prince, her failing age sustain, In thee her much-loved child may live again ; Her dying hours with pious conduct bless, Assist her wants, relieve her fond distress: So dear a hope must all my soul inflame, To rise in glory, or to fall in fame.' Struck with a filial care so deeply felt, In tears at once the Trojan warriors melt : Faster than all, Iulus' eyes o'erflow;

Such love was his, and such had been his woe.

:

'All thou hast asked, receive,' the prince replied;

Nor this alone, but many a gift beside.
To cheer thy mother's years shall be my aim,
Creusa's style but wanting to the dame.*
Fortune an adverse, wayward course may run,
But bless'd thy mother in so dear a son,
Now, by my life !-my sire's most sacred oath,
To thee I pledge my full, my firmest troth,
All the rewards which once to thee were vow'd,
If thou shouldst fall, on her shall be bestow'd.'
Thus spoke the weeping prince, then forth to
view

A gleaming falchion from the sheath he drew;
Lycaon's utmost skill had graced the steel,
For friends to envy and for foes to feel :
A tawny hide, the Moorish lion's spoil,
Slain midst the forest, in the hunter's toil,
Mnestheus to guard the elder youth bestows,
And old Alethes' casque defends his brows.
Arm'd, thence they go, while all th' assembled
train,

To aid their cause, implore the gods in vain.
More than a boy, in wisdom and in grace,
Iulus holds amidst the chiefs his place:
His prayer he sends; but what can prayers avail,
Lost in the murmurs of the sighing gale!

The trench is pass'd, and, favour'd by the night, [flight. Through sleeping foes they wheel their wary When shall the sleep of many a foe be o'er? Alas! some slumber who shall wake no more! Chariots and bridles, mix'd with arms, are seen; And flowing flasks, and scatter'd troops between ; Bacchus and Mars to rule the camp combine; A mingled chaos this of war and wine. 'Now,' cries the first,' for deeds of blood prepare, With me the conquest and the labour share: Here lies our path; lest any hand arise, Watch thou, while many a dreaming chieftain dies;

I'll carve our passage through the heedless foe,
And clear thy road with many a deadly blow.'
His whispering accents then the youth repress'd,
And pierced proud Rhamnes through his panting
breast:

Stretch'd at his ease, th' incautious king reposed;
Debauch, and not fatigue, his eyes had closed :
To Turnus dear, a prophet and a prince,
His omens more than augur's skill evince;
But he, who thus foretold the fate of all,
Could not avert his own untimely fall.
Next Remus' armour-bearer, hapless, fell,
And three unhappy slaves the carnage swell;
The charioteer along his courser's sides
Expires, the steel his sever'd neck divides:
And, last, his lord is number'd with the dead :
Bounding convulsive, flies the gasping head;
From the swoll'n veins the blackening torrents
pour :

Stain'd is the couch and earth with clotting gore.