Slau. Letters four do form his name And who sent you? Both. The same! the same! Slau. He came by stealth, and unlocked my den, And I have drunk the blood since then Of thrice three hundred thousand men. Slau. The same! the same! Letters four do form his name. He let me loose, and cried Halloo ! To him alone the praise is due. Fam. Thanks, sister, thanks! the men have bled, Their wives and their children faint for bread. I stood in a swampy field of battle; With bones and skulls I made a rattle, To frighten the wolf and carrion-crow And the homeless dog-but they would not go. Both. Whisper it, sister! in our ear. I had starved the one and was starving the other! Both. Who bade you Fam. do't? The same! the same! Letters four do form his name. He let me loose, and cried, Halloo! To him alone the praise is due. Fire. Sisters! I from Ireland came ! I flung back my head and I held my sides, To see the sweltered cattle run With uncouth gallop through the night, The house-stream met the flame and hissed, Fire. The same! the same! Letters four do form his name. He let me loose, and cried Halloo! To him alone the praise is due. All. He let us loose, and cried Halloo ! How shall we yield him honour due ? Fam. Wisdom comes with lack of food. I'll gnaw, I'll gnaw the multitude, They shall seize him and his brood Slau. They shall tear him limb from limb! Fire. O thankless beldames and untrue! And is this all that you can do Cling to him everlastingly. 1796. II. LOVE POEMS. Quas humilis tenero stylus olim effudit in ævo, Frons alia est, moresque alii, nova mentis imago, Pectore nunc gelido calidos miseremur amantes, PETRARCH LOVE. ALL thoughts, all passions, all delights, All are but ministers of Love, And feed his sacred flame. Oft in my waking dreams do I The moonshine, stealing o'er the scene And she was there, my hope, my joy, My own dear Genevieve! She lean'd against the armed man, Few sorrows hath she of her own, The songs that make her grieve. I played a soft and doleful air, She listened with a flitting blusn, I told her of the Knight that wore Upon his shield a burning brand; And that for ten long years he wooed The Lady of the Land. I told her how he pined: and ah! |