CON. CAL. Oh no! Call me brother! Brother? CON. Brave youth, thou art indeed my brother- CAL. And thus my father's sword. Might have spilt my father's blood! Unhappy wretch! But I sav'd him not-I sav'd him not. CON. Charge not thyself with guilt, 'Twas an ignorant sin-One, one alone is guiltyShall we revenge? CAL. Revenge! that glorious name Of thy forgiving hand. CON. My father's blood, His noble blood leaps, in thy eager veins. We'll fight together-side by side we'll fight. CAL. Calaf will take his thrust, and thou shalt slay him! Death will atone for me. CON. Live, live my brother. R. M. 321 SONGS OF THE CIVIL WAR. Here warlike coblers railed from tops of casks Gnaw their cogg'd dice and curse the lingering prey : Paints her wan lips and braids her borrowed hair: From a MS. Poem. I. THE CAVALIER'S MARCH TO LONDON. To horse! to horse! brave Cavaliers! To horse for Church and Crown! Strike, strike your tents! snatch up your spears! The imperial barlot, doom'd a prey To our avenging fires, Sends up the voice of her dismay From all her hundred spires. The Strand resounds with maiden's shrieks, And blushes stand on brazen cheeks, And tears in iron eyes; And, pale with fasting and with fright, Each Puritan Committee Hath summon'd forth to prayer and fight The Roundheads of the City. And soon shall London's sentries hear The thunder of our drum, And London's dames, in wilder fear, Shall cry, Alack! They come ! VOL. II. PART II. Y Fling the fascines;-tear up the spikes; And forward, one and all. Down, down with all their train-band pikes, Quarter?-Foul fall your whining noise, No quarter! Think on Strafford, boys. No quarter!-Charge.-No quarter !-Fire. Where next? In sooth there lacks no witch, Brave lads, to tell us where, Sure London's sons be passing rich, Her daughters wondrous fair : Their lean divines, of solemn brow, Sworn foes to throne and steeple, From an unwonted pulpit now Shall edify the people: Till the tir'd hangman, in despair, Shall curse his blunted shears, And vainly pinch, and scrape, and tear, We'll hang, above his own Guildhall, And on the den of thieves we'll fall, Of bench and woolsack, tub and chair, And tons of rebel parchment there Shall crackle in the fire. With them shall perish, cheek by jowl, The Chaplain's dog-ear'd bible, We'll tread a measure round the blaze The beauties of the friars: Then smiles in every face shall shine, And joy in every soul. Bring forth, bring forth the oldest wine, And as with nod and laugh ye sip The goblet's rich carnation, Whose bursting bubbles seem to tip The wink of invitation; Drink to those names,-those glorious names, Those names no time shall sever,— Drink, in a draught as deep as Thames, Our Church and King for ever! T. M. II. THE BATTLE OF NASEBY, BY ОBADIAH BIND-THEIRKINGS-IN-CHAINS-AND-THEIR NOBLES-WITH-LINKS-OFIRON, SERJEANT IN IRETON'S REGIMENT. OH! wherefore come ye forth, in triumph from the North, And wherefore doth your rout send forth a joyous shout? And whence be the grapes of the wine-press which ye tread? Oh evil was the root, and bitter was the fruit, And crimson was the juice of the vintage that we trod ; For we trampled on the throng of the haughty and the strong, Who sate in the high places and slew the saints of God. It was about the noon of a glorious day of June That we saw their banners dance and their cuirasses shine, And the Man of Blood was there, with his long essenced hair, And Astley, and Sir Marmaduke, and Rupert of the Rhine. Like a servant of the Lord, with his Bible and his sword, And hark! like the roar of the billows on the shore, The cry of battle rises along their charging line! The furious German comes, with his clarions and his drums, They are bursting on our flanks. Grasp your pikes:-Close your For Rupert never comes but to conquer or to fall. They are here:-they rush on.- -We are broken :-we are gone: Stand back to back, in God's name, and fight it to the last. Stout Skippon hath a wound:—the centre hath given ground:- rear? Whose banner do I see, boys? 'Tis he, thank God, 'tis he, boys. Bear up another minute. Brave Oliver is here. |