Macmillan's Reading Books. Book V. Unknown

shalt thou rise,

                More dreadful from each foreign stroke;

             As the loud blast that tears the skies,

                Serves but to root thy native oak.

             Thee haughty tyrants ne'er shall tame:

                All their attempts to bend thee down

             Will but arouse thy generous flame;

                But work their woe and thy renown.

             To thee belongs the rural reign;

                Thy cities shall with commerce shine;

             All thine shall be the subject main:

                And every shore it circles thine.

             The Muses, still with freedom found,

                Shall to thy happy coast repair:

             Blessed isle! with matchless beauty crowned,

                And manly hearts to guard the fair:

                   Rule, Britannia, rule the waves,

                   Britons never will be slaves!

THOMSON.

      [Notes: James Thomson, born 1700, died 1748. He was educated for the Scotch ministry, but came to London, and commenced his career as a poet by the series of poems called the 'Seasons,' descriptive of scenes in nature.

      The Muses, i.e., the Sciences and Arts, which flourish best where there are free institutions.]

* * * * *

      WATERLOO

             There was a sound of revelry by night,

             And Belgium's capital had gathered then

             Her Beauty and her Chivalry; and bright

             The lamps shone o'er fair women and brave men;

             A thousand hearts beat happily; and when

             Music arose with its voluptuous swell,

             Soft eyes look'd love to eyes which spake again,

             And all went merry as a marriage-bell;—

             But hush! hark! a deep sound strikes like a rising

             knell!

             Did ye not hear it?—No; 'twas but the wind,

             Or the car rattling o'er the stony street:

             On with the dance! let joy be unconfined;

             No sleep till morn, when Youth and Pleasure meet

             To chase the glowing Hours with flying feet—

             But hark!—That heavy sound breaks in once more,

             As if the clouds its echo would repeat;

             And nearer, clearer, deadlier than before!

             Arm! arm! it is—it is—the cannon's opening roar!

             Ah! then and there was hurrying to and fro,

             And gathering tears, and tremblings of distress,

             And cheeks all pale, which but an hour ago

             Blush'd at the praise of their own loveliness:

             And there were sudden partings, such as press

             The life from out young hearts, and choking sighs

             Which ne'er might be repeated; who could guess

             If ever more should meet those mutual eyes,

             Since upon night so sweet such awful morn could rise?

             And there was mounting in hot haste: the steed,

             The mustering squadron, and the clattering car,

             Went pouring forward with impetuous speed,

             And swiftly forming in the ranks of war;

             And the deep thunder peal on peal afar;

             And near, the beat of the alarming drum

             Roused up the soldier ere the morning-star;

             While throng'd the citizens, with terror dumb,

             Or whispering, with white lips,—"The foe! they come!

             they come!"

             And Ardennes waves above them her green leaves,

             Dewy with nature's tear-drops, as they pass,

             Grieving, if aught inanimate e'er grieves,

             Over the unreturning brave,—alas!

             Ere evening to be trodden like the grass,

             Which now beneath them, but above shall grow

             In its next verdure; when this fiery mass

             Of living valour, rolling on the foe

             And burning with high hope, shall moulder cold and low!

             Last noon beheld them full of lusty life,

             Last eve in Beauty's circle proudly gay,

             The midnight brought the signal-sound of strife,

             The morn the marshalling in arms,—the day

             Battle's magnificently stern array!

             The thunder-clouds close o'er it, which when rent

             The earth is cover'd thick with other clay,

             Which her own clay shall cover—heap'd and pent,

             Rider and horse,—friend, foe,—in one red burial blent!

BYRON.

      [Notes:Waterloo. Fought, 1815, between Napoleon on one side, and Wellington and Blucher (the Prussian General) on the other. Its result was the defeat of Napoleon, and his imprisonment by the Allies in St. Helena. The festivities held at Brussels, the headquarters of the British Army, on the eve of the battle, were rudely disturbed by the news that the action had already begun.

      Ardennes. A district on the frontier of France, bordering on Belgium.

      Ivry. The battle in which Henry IV., in the struggle for the crown of France, completely routed the forces of the Catholic League (1590).

      My white plume shine. The white plume was the distinctive mark of the House of Bourbon.

      Oriflamme, or Auriflamme (lit. Flame of Gold), originally the banner of the Abbey of St. Denis, afterwards appropriated by the crown of France. "Let the helmet of Navarre (Henry's own country) be to-day the Royal Standard of France."

      Culverin. A piece of artillery of long range.

      The fiery Duke