'Dear loft companions of my tuneful art, • Dear as the ruddy drops that warm my heart, I fee them fit; they linger yet, 'Avengers of their native land ; With me in dreadful harmony they join, 40 45 And weave with bloody hands the tissue of thy line.' II. I. "Weave the warp and weave the woof, "Give ample room and verge enough "When Severn fhall re-echo with affright 59 "The fhrieks of death thro' Berkley's roofs that ring, "Shrieks of an agonizing king !† 56 "She-wolf of France, ‡ with unrelenting fangs "That tear'ft the bowels of thy mangled mate, "From thee § be born who o'er thy country hangs "The fcourge of Heav'n. What terrors round him wait! As dear to me as are the ruddy drops 60 That vifit my fad heart- Shakefp. Julius Cæfar. *See the Norwegian Ode that follows. + Edward II. cruelly butchered in Berkley Caftle. Ifabel of France, Edward Il's adulterous queen. $ Triumphs of Edward III. in France. mazement in his van, with Flight combin'd, nd forrow's faded form, and Solitude behind. II. 2. lighty victor, mighty lord, ow on his fun'ral couch he lies! T o pitying heart, no eye, afford tear to grace his obfequies! the fable warrior * fled? ny fon, is gone; he refts among the dead. 65 e fwarm that in thy noontide beam were born, ne to falute the rifing morn: 70 r laughs the morn, † and soft the zephyr blows, hile proudly riding o'er the azure realm, gallant trim the gilded veffel goes, uth on the prow and Pleasure at the helm, gardless of the sweeping whirlwind's fway, 75 at hush'd in grim repose expects his ev'ning prey. II. 3. high the sparkling bowl, t = rich repast prepare ; eath of that king, abandoned by his children, en robbed in his last moments by his courtiers istress. dward the Black Prince, dead fome time before er. agnificence of Richard II's reign. See Froifnd other contemporary writers. chard II. (as we are told by Archbishop Scroop, e confederate Lords, in their manifefto, by "Reft of a crown, he yet may share the feast. "Close by the regal chair "Fell Thirft and famine fcowl "A baleful fiile upon the baffled guest. "Heard ye the din of battle bray,§ "Lance to lance and horfe to horse? 8 "Long years of havock urge their destin❜d courfe, “And thro' the kindred squadrons mow their way. "Ye Tow'rs of Julius! | London's lasting shame, "With many a foul and midnight murder fed, "Revere his confort's faith, his father's ** fame, "And spare the meek ufurper's ++ holy head. "Above, below, the Rofe of fnow," "Twin'd with her blushing foe, we spread; Thomas of Walfingham, and all the older writers) was ftarved to death. The ftory of his affaffination by Sir Piers of Exon is of much later date. § Ruinous civil wars of York and Lancaster. || Henry VI. George Duke of Clarence, Edward V. Richard Duke of York, &c. believed to be murdered fecretly in the Tower of London. The oldeft part of that firucture is vulgarly attributed to Julius Cæfar. Margaret of Anjou, a woman of heroic fpirit, who ftruggled hard to fave her husband and her crown. ** Henry V. ++ Henry VI. very near being canonized. The line of Lancafter had no right of inheritance to the crown. *The white and red Rofes, devices of York and Lancafter. he briftled Boar † in infant gore allows beneath the thorny fhade. 94 ow, Brothers'! bending o'er th' accurfed loom, amp we our vengeance deep, and ratify his doom. III. I. ward, lo! to fudden fate Weave we the woof; the thread is fpun) he web is wove; the work is done.") , oh ftay! nor thus forlorn ve me unbless'd, unpity'd, here to mourn. on' bright track, that fires the western skies, -y melt, they vanish from my eyes. 100 oh! what folemn fcenes on Snowdon's height, cending flow, their glittʼring skirts unroll! 106 ons of glory! fpare my aching fight, unborn ages crowd not on my foul! more our long-loft Arthur § we bewail: nail, ye genuine Kings; || Britannia's issue, hail! The filver Boar was the badge of Richard III. ce he was usually known in his own time by the of The Boar. eanor of Caftile died a few years after the conof Wales. The heroic proof the gave of her on for her lord is well known. The monuof his regret and forrow for the loss of her are o be seen at Northampton, Gaddington, Waland other places. was the common belief of the Welsh nation, King Arthur was ftill alive in Fairyland, and return again to reign over Britain. oth Merlin and Talieffin had prophefied that III. 2. Girt with many a baron bold In the midft a form divine, Her eye proclaims her of the Briton-line, Her lion-port, her awe-commanding face,* • Attemper'd sweet to virgin-grace. "What strings fymphonious tremble in the air!` III 115 121 Bright Rapture calls, and, foaring as she fings, • Waves in the eye of heav'n her many-colour'd wings. The verfe adorn again III. 3. Fierce War, and faithful Love, the Welsh should regain their fovereignty over this island, which seemed to be accomplished in the house of Tudor. * Speed, relating an audience given by Queen Elizabeth to Paul Dzialinski, ambassador of Poland, fays, "And thus fhe, lion-like rifing, daunted the "malapert orator no lefs with her stately port and "majeftical deporture, than with the tartnefs of her "princelie cheekes.” Talieffin, chief of the Bards, flourished in the 6th century. His works are ftill preferved, and his memory held in high veneration, among his countrymen. Fierce wars and faithful loves fhall moralize my fong. Spencer's Poem to The Fairy-Queen. |